tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64358235593073051512024-03-18T22:34:30.080+00:00Film: Ab InitioThis blog will run through cinema's rich history in chronological order, starting with the films of the Lumiere Brothers in 1895 up to Avatar and beyond. With over 1500 titles to be viewed, it will provide a forum for all movie lovers to discuss film's gradual evolution.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-80377563852793357012011-03-25T10:18:00.001+00:002011-04-02T08:34:50.870+01:00A Criminally Overlooked Masterpiece - 1911 - L'Inferno - Francesco Bertolini, Adolfo Padovan & Giuseppe de Liguoro<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="340" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zyeDtwbACgg" title="YouTube video player" width="380"></iframe><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">L’Inferno is one of the most ambitious films ever made. It was the first ever Italian feature film, took over three years to make, involved a cast of over 150 people and required the work of three separate directors. Some of these statistics may not sound impressive today, but at the time it marked a quantum leap in terms of scale and aspiration.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCIMUUuQe1T8P8u1g9Alwe85yoJBHUblCRQMUnX8QIfg51KghEXauCl4lR4lWt2Q-jxfsTFm6EzbhruOWnod0O3i86UCHS-OuhLuuzT9GEry0A9oVvkK_BDMjt7lBJtZqtzHKvbwJw94A/s1600/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Judge+Minos.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCIMUUuQe1T8P8u1g9Alwe85yoJBHUblCRQMUnX8QIfg51KghEXauCl4lR4lWt2Q-jxfsTFm6EzbhruOWnod0O3i86UCHS-OuhLuuzT9GEry0A9oVvkK_BDMjt7lBJtZqtzHKvbwJw94A/s320/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Judge+Minos.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One of this blog’s goals has been to find key films between the making of <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/05/1903-great-train-robbery-edwin-s-porter.html">The Great Train Robbery</a> and The Birth of A Nation and prove that a whole decade of great cinema has been woefully overlooked. We have looked at many strong examples so far, but few can smash the myth that nothing consequential happened in cinema between 1903 and 1915 like L’Inferno.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxviXKT90uh4R-WynGLIjPlx4Asi3Smq439MwLYzlBzmJJFylyL9lTDlQdMULxUxlnBKaOG93WqWot0uhXxoFVtsnk6BT7BOcI9WQoI7AJh9Nfi5SyzB4wLI63-9SEOzwVJ-kxpBJB_bY/s1600/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Misers+and+Spendthrifts.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxviXKT90uh4R-WynGLIjPlx4Asi3Smq439MwLYzlBzmJJFylyL9lTDlQdMULxUxlnBKaOG93WqWot0uhXxoFVtsnk6BT7BOcI9WQoI7AJh9Nfi5SyzB4wLI63-9SEOzwVJ-kxpBJB_bY/s320/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Misers+and+Spendthrifts.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I have read reviews lamenting the fact that the film pre-dates Griffith’s pioneering of the close up and that the camera remains static for the majority of the film. But I suspect film historians have overemphasised early silent cinema’s technical innovations over its imagistic brilliance. For there are four or five scenes in this film which are as breathtaking as any I have encountered in cinema.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0s1BTQt-XXExj8snmMttJ2kyGM_nXdeEpXDSwAPFGSEqH5S29hvP65heVYo6n5STytwTUWgJuCmCvEWlhgojgHyitEl_azb2nNtKiAs7Gs-ZbIsbls0y5UcFNBbfYpvBs4lDAbBce-A8/s1600/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Carnal+Sinners.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0s1BTQt-XXExj8snmMttJ2kyGM_nXdeEpXDSwAPFGSEqH5S29hvP65heVYo6n5STytwTUWgJuCmCvEWlhgojgHyitEl_azb2nNtKiAs7Gs-ZbIsbls0y5UcFNBbfYpvBs4lDAbBce-A8/s320/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Carnal+Sinners.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Lumiere Brothers held up a mirror to our lives, Méliès took us to the moon, Porter took us to the Wild West, Blackton pioneered animation; these three Italian directors take us to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hell</i>. And given that it is five years before the brutalities of the Somme and mustard gas, given that it was made in the century which included the brutalities of Hiroshima, Auschwitz, The Great Terror, My Lai and much more – film’s first (and most successful) portrayal of Hell is of significant importance.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIcDpBfv9Dj7y5VJiz_xj64D2jUkXvWObJWnMYPA5-hChWxffeCUnn9R35rnrDjti9jQ9HH9CGyHxgX5tYsA6f6eB3mxRpViXiUi0BJZFQYWDCewbf_DLr42PwMZGGMMfToHyqQ_XwItw/s1600/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Leaving+Hell.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIcDpBfv9Dj7y5VJiz_xj64D2jUkXvWObJWnMYPA5-hChWxffeCUnn9R35rnrDjti9jQ9HH9CGyHxgX5tYsA6f6eB3mxRpViXiUi0BJZFQYWDCewbf_DLr42PwMZGGMMfToHyqQ_XwItw/s320/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Leaving+Hell.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Furthermore, it is clear the broad influence the film has had on subsequent cinematic work - from Pasolini to Romero. The film was also successful when it was released – taking $2 million in the US alone (When this figure is adjusted for inflation it comes to just over $45 million. A remarkable figure when one considers that cinema was still a fledgling concept). Not that a film’s financial success can be equated with its aesthetic quality, but what today might be considered an ‘art house’ film was once a genuine ‘blockbuster’. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeFmXvHWhWsP4B1VT7cNGag0WXGChcMtT1wWkt6CnwdS7Jgu6zV1HXSRpP7-rW-YTi_T3RwnEucbQCQ5hyKHEpUX3sMQSVNAVG2sHy8NYeZq3YkM4avj6IX_PaSO8Zxww1dDEn0krK1K4/s1600/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Francesca+Da+Rimini.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeFmXvHWhWsP4B1VT7cNGag0WXGChcMtT1wWkt6CnwdS7Jgu6zV1HXSRpP7-rW-YTi_T3RwnEucbQCQ5hyKHEpUX3sMQSVNAVG2sHy8NYeZq3YkM4avj6IX_PaSO8Zxww1dDEn0krK1K4/s320/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Francesca+Da+Rimini.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There is one major caveat. The film was restored relatively recently; producer Tim Pierce painstakingly put together the most complete version of the film from archival footage. The team behind the restoration decided to allow Tangerine Dream to score the film – and it is a contender for the most inappropriate soundtrack ever recorded. I think Tangerine Dream have made some compelling music (Zeit is a spellbinding album) but this score is awful. It often undercuts key visuals with unnecessarily melodramatic sounds, but worst of all is a vocalist who murders some of the most visually striking scenes with absurdly reductive lyrics. I recommend watching the film a completely different piece of music (Could someone recommend the ideal piece of music to accompany the film?). </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfYkY690Rii1jLWXBhHVFmeSxAJdBSgj7TeLzSr-905Exm6wziyDJ7m58D_aLdn-TSDea2eDEQXaNHfuabV5o9-4n2yW0ywdnoMrlfPD2Msdky7QVsPQeiDW52RLfYxjN0IJbaLv68-z0/s1600/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Surrounded+by+devils.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfYkY690Rii1jLWXBhHVFmeSxAJdBSgj7TeLzSr-905Exm6wziyDJ7m58D_aLdn-TSDea2eDEQXaNHfuabV5o9-4n2yW0ywdnoMrlfPD2Msdky7QVsPQeiDW52RLfYxjN0IJbaLv68-z0/s320/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Surrounded+by+devils.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">L’Inferno is not the first cinematic adaptation of a literary text but is certainly the most successful thus far. 1910 adaptations of <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/10/1910-king-lear-gerolamo-lo-savio.html">King Lear </a>and <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/11/films-first-great-horror-film-1910.html">Frankenstein</a> successfully channelled their source material to allow the works to adhere to the limited time span of the one-reeler. But with L’Inferno, the three directors are able to tackle their source material without having to remove the majority of the original framework. But L’Inferno does not simply tackle Dante’s masterful work piece by piece; it provides it with a new setting which illuminates several key moments. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMFmMltpvd4SlR4-AZnytE8NJEYCH4vM_w5DZPjKhVNDJZtiLodiBYPxw2hlNFVJDLtGLfkb6tT7oldmZz3WFXmndX5U1L41tB5g8gQJNf6NCY9xryGZdTdzD-iBS3KC1QWTk8YJx3yw4/s1600/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Hypocrites.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMFmMltpvd4SlR4-AZnytE8NJEYCH4vM_w5DZPjKhVNDJZtiLodiBYPxw2hlNFVJDLtGLfkb6tT7oldmZz3WFXmndX5U1L41tB5g8gQJNf6NCY9xryGZdTdzD-iBS3KC1QWTk8YJx3yw4/s320/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Hypocrites.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The film’s opening scenes do not hint at its imminent visual delights. The film is at its weakest when it portraying animals and beasts (the leopard and Cerberus both look tacky - see Cerebrus below) as Dante and Virgil wanders around a mountain. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpzZ7MDYwP7cVDjCMCUXblcPagMshpKRBRisG_SGJi9w-8PrjovRVVIpLfun1Wf6gwM67M0PCAIOLt8GVz8_Ns3k6AE6psVk6mWptxYCEcaXQP3qN4xTn30UAKk7lJi68-iW5ZY0yu_cU/s1600/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Cerberus.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpzZ7MDYwP7cVDjCMCUXblcPagMshpKRBRisG_SGJi9w-8PrjovRVVIpLfun1Wf6gwM67M0PCAIOLt8GVz8_Ns3k6AE6psVk6mWptxYCEcaXQP3qN4xTn30UAKk7lJi68-iW5ZY0yu_cU/s320/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Cerberus.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But as they approach the River Acheron, the film’s anarchic visual aesthetic becomes clearer. Scores of naked bodies attempt to board Charon’s ferry as he beats them off with his oar (see image below). There is no precedent for such a scene in cinema pre-1911; you can have all the Griffithian close-ups you want, but the immediacy with which these images embed themselves on your subconscious is striking. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDINZvA2XqcXdV6AMzEq8mKws8_l4CEmTwnc-hliwjLT2qtdkRSYcFECDN9SLN0WuB-PEXGJchiAjKABBhshhzwf6vP_DSSEEofTuaj-5H7Tf8S8ln7dNleN1dLtZumi9Cf5ZwHeaO0-k/s1600/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Acheron+meets+Dante.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDINZvA2XqcXdV6AMzEq8mKws8_l4CEmTwnc-hliwjLT2qtdkRSYcFECDN9SLN0WuB-PEXGJchiAjKABBhshhzwf6vP_DSSEEofTuaj-5H7Tf8S8ln7dNleN1dLtZumi9Cf5ZwHeaO0-k/s320/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Acheron+meets+Dante.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It is also important to draw attention to the scale and horror of the imagery as it distinguishes the film from being a vision of Hell through the borrowed vision of Georges Méliès. For the film uses plenty of Mélièsian trickery and is littered with references and homage to Méliès; particularly when we see the face of the devil. But where Méliès worked with no more than four or five actors, these Italian directors are happy to fill the lens with human bodies (the power of the scene where Dante and Virgil stand over the group of flatterers showering in the river of filth is partly due to sheer number of flatterers bathing in excrement - see image below). </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ROCyIRvUVilsBYoMlWaMm2fZQhOv4vq6kjWfJKpS-Xonmiw9NrPRlEns0Ymk2ymSa1rdAH5_m_u32z-rmbTYh3QpkVgiIdcKktQxQ1eElW8w6rtlNUPJARGARrS5TJ0m50ae4u0xFoA/s1600/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+River+of+Filth+-+Flatterers.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ROCyIRvUVilsBYoMlWaMm2fZQhOv4vq6kjWfJKpS-Xonmiw9NrPRlEns0Ymk2ymSa1rdAH5_m_u32z-rmbTYh3QpkVgiIdcKktQxQ1eElW8w6rtlNUPJARGARrS5TJ0m50ae4u0xFoA/s320/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+River+of+Filth+-+Flatterers.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">This also demonstrates that the three directors embraced the comic savagery of Dante’s vision of Hell. Hence the face of the devil also contains the bodies of Cassius and Brutus trying to kick free – this is the imagery of comic apocalyptic nightmares.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc2tZWepEi83TbdxEDtNw8NJMHe080DSmyIQW_bojqXORSYnF9uZg5c4d61SzhlFnZKiXPYd91QRN7XFWO8fEblbGbJjwdRexeR8kl_SdqkJDtd5tUG7DVTyQTxOztewD-EWjPYQf6CT4/s1600/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Devil+eats+Brutus.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc2tZWepEi83TbdxEDtNw8NJMHe080DSmyIQW_bojqXORSYnF9uZg5c4d61SzhlFnZKiXPYd91QRN7XFWO8fEblbGbJjwdRexeR8kl_SdqkJDtd5tUG7DVTyQTxOztewD-EWjPYQf6CT4/s320/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Devil+eats+Brutus.png" width="320" /></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">L’Inferno also introduces a key narrative tool: the flashback. While we have seen historic films such <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/06/1905-la-presa-di-roma-taking-of-rome.html">La Presa Di Roma </a>and <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/08/first-cinematic-roman-tragedy-1909.html">Nerone</a> skip between passages of time – L’Inferno ‘flashes back’ to a character’s life before they entered Hell and then returns to their terrible surroundings. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The device is employed on three separate occasions and is at its most brutally effective when flashing back to the life of Count Ugolino (see images below). <o:p></o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">When Dante and Virgil encounter Ugolino, he is gnawing away at the brain of Archbishop Ruggieri. Count Ugolino then recounts the tale of him and his family’s starvation by the Archbishop, as we see his children dead on the floor as he is dizzied from hunger. As the image returns to his soul in Hell, the contrast could not be more striking as the ‘reality’ of this inception of Hell becomes apparent.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwGmJ3yt8SPb8bjWtylJ9r8uSyqOjBsRTU3hfG2oagXCYj5F6pBzssUMjdLhz2ubIifEGzwEfkw2dsFl9OGpuq6vLqMmsshcj98fh77mgDhzFYBbyUwE_g3ZhO4iL76u3ZtRSAzZd57Kw/s1600/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Count+Ugolino+-+Better+Days.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwGmJ3yt8SPb8bjWtylJ9r8uSyqOjBsRTU3hfG2oagXCYj5F6pBzssUMjdLhz2ubIifEGzwEfkw2dsFl9OGpuq6vLqMmsshcj98fh77mgDhzFYBbyUwE_g3ZhO4iL76u3ZtRSAzZd57Kw/s320/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Count+Ugolino+-+Better+Days.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI0a9Ziz-FywT12HAVJ6o5vmf6NsTREzosUZEreg0p3ByGgv7S6OEKptnLcVJNCBUb5ZI2KR-f8TIkc6-BVA4aZ43z4hWWkgJ6mfBI6fTWANgqCYnva33o68GyIKENHf-ODtk6JJuGkBM/s1600/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Count+Ugolino+-+Skull+eating.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI0a9Ziz-FywT12HAVJ6o5vmf6NsTREzosUZEreg0p3ByGgv7S6OEKptnLcVJNCBUb5ZI2KR-f8TIkc6-BVA4aZ43z4hWWkgJ6mfBI6fTWANgqCYnva33o68GyIKENHf-ODtk6JJuGkBM/s320/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Count+Ugolino+-+Skull+eating.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">L’Inferno has every right to be acclaimed as one of the most important and influential films ever made – yet it languishes in cinematic purgatory as an afterthought to the oeuvre of Griffith. Yet as the balls of fire reign down on the blasphemers (see image below) and we have a scene so ahead of its time with its allusions to the great film on war, it becomes crystal clear that L’Inferno is a film of superlative quality that demands immediate insertion into the cinematic canon. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU4o6a3EzZ9UsH9KaXon81LQ6TnbMNRhpMm_h9yHuSsn8gzu-GfALdLVXkghYz6b7NPSaAvFWe6O0x8gw4JqSLsHp1hQzXB9nEM1k-adoxfqXef_j1irG8LxNCT3OJ5I9GNZaMLiJsVjg/s1600/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Blasphemers+-+Balls+of+Fire.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU4o6a3EzZ9UsH9KaXon81LQ6TnbMNRhpMm_h9yHuSsn8gzu-GfALdLVXkghYz6b7NPSaAvFWe6O0x8gw4JqSLsHp1hQzXB9nEM1k-adoxfqXef_j1irG8LxNCT3OJ5I9GNZaMLiJsVjg/s320/L%2527Inferno+-+1911+-+Blasphemers+-+Balls+of+Fire.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com216tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-85098654196360597612010-11-17T14:41:00.000+00:002010-11-17T14:41:26.270+00:00Film's first melodrama - 1911 - Swords and Hearts - D.W. Griffith<object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bIQ6A65pxn0?fs=1&hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bIQ6A65pxn0?fs=1&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the great pleasures of watching cinema’s rich history in chronological order is the ability to witness a great director’s artistic evolution. Swords and Hearts sees Griffith move away from the ‘morality play’ structure of his earlier films <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/08/1909-corner-in-wheat-dw-griffith.html">Corner in Wheat </a>(1909) and <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/11/films-first-american-civil-war-film.html">The House with Closed Shutters </a>(1910). Whereas these two films focused on a single theme (greed in the former and cowardice in the latter), thus limiting the dramatic potential of both films, Swords and Hearts sees Griffith adopt a more expansive method of storytelling.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This is an incredibly important development for Griffith, because it allowed him to maximise the dramatic potential of his greatest strength – interweaving storylines. As they are no longer inhibited by a simple moral theme, the characterisation deepens and the narrative becomes more gripping.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In Swords and Hearts, this developed approach to the film’s narrative allows the Griffith to move away from the morality play and into the territory of melodrama. Today, the term melodrama has negative connotations and is associated with mediocre television films; however, the genre can be extremely satisfying.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sidney Lumet once observed, "In a well-written drama, the story comes out of the characters. The characters in a well-written melodrama come out of the story." Swords and Hearts sees Griffith return once again to the American Civil War – which allows him to create a story filled with class resentment, unrequited love and some extremely impressive set pieces. Although Hollywood would be loathe to admit it, melodrama shares many similarities with the modern ‘summer blockbuster’; Griffith sets a loose template for such films with Swords and Hearts. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvgqKohEEGYjMis6EwUyqMKLuk2MsI9q3n3BNIu85i0EHfbnE73PjM26RyLXa0DfoY5rtrFiSq8umjHtSKYnRY16vR6g3jZe-grBggTg7vN5G0YmNRpe-Z5NFAE3T-24o9Gg4zpIzoLuY/s1600/D.W.+Griffith.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvgqKohEEGYjMis6EwUyqMKLuk2MsI9q3n3BNIu85i0EHfbnE73PjM26RyLXa0DfoY5rtrFiSq8umjHtSKYnRY16vR6g3jZe-grBggTg7vN5G0YmNRpe-Z5NFAE3T-24o9Gg4zpIzoLuY/s1600/D.W.+Griffith.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <i>Griffith himself.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A useful way of illustrating Griffith’s artistic maturity in Swords and Hearts is to compare the use of a device which is used both in this film and one his earlier films, the House with Closed Shutters. In both films, we see female characters cross-dress in order to pretend that they are Confederate soldiers. In the latter film, this is done to illustrate the cowardice of the main protagonist. Although it does provide us with the powerful image of the sister being killed carrying the same flag that she was sewing at the opening of the film, the device’s main purpose is to make a moralistic observation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In Swords and Hearts, the soldier Hugh is unaware that his horse has been taken. Jennie sees the soldiers from the North approaching and steals Hugh’s horse so that the approaching soldiers do not see that he is in Irene’s house. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What follows is the most gripping action sequence that we have seen in any film to date. She is chased by the soldiers, but at such a breathtaking speed that even a modern audience are taken aback by this high speed horse chase. The angling of the camera allows the speed to be heightened; when a gun fight ensues, you cannot help but marvel at the pace at which it unfolds. It certainly adds weight to the argument that CGI and special effects cannot match the effect of action sequences that are shot without any post-production manipulation. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Returning to Jessie’s decision to don the confederate uniform, the importance of this decision serves as both the catalyst for the central part of the film as well as bringing the two protagonists together by the end of the film. Although we now treat sentimental happy endings with an element of disdain, you cannot help admiring the manner in which Griffith brings the various strands of his plot together. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Another stand out set-piece is the burning down of Hugh’s house. The only parallel we have of such a dramatic scene is the burning of the house at the climax of <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/06/1906-story-of-kelly-gang-charles-tait.html">The Story of the Kelly Gang</a>; on this occasion, however, we are presented with footage of the burning house from the inside. We can only speculate as to how dangerous such filming was in 1909, but there is no denying the raw power of this sequence of images. The image of the house being engulfed by flames is as riveting an image as we have encountered to date; the untamed malice of the flames is deeply unnerving. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The film also brings Griffith’s contentious portrayal of African-Americans to the fore. Old Ben is Hugh’s father’s slave and has a pivotal role in ensuring that Hugh maintains his family’s heirlooms as well as bringing Hugh and Jennie together. Unfortunately, he is portrayed in ‘blackface’. His over-exaggerated mannerisms and gestures undoubtedly make a modern viewer extremely uncomfortable, which in turn affects our overall aesthetic judgment of Griffith's oeuvre. I would be interested to learn what effect such crass portrayals of a race had on other viewers...<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-16293341487072919692010-11-09T22:16:00.000+00:002010-11-09T22:16:04.645+00:00Film's first detective film - 1911 - Le trust, ou les batailles de l’argent - The Trust, or The Battles for Money - Louis Feuillade<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIFZZqpjyAsMmDSzvckGvwvwyPJHraclMx59zXnVCXWM4ji-66fVduBXi7Hy1uUgJbAzXRfRFRQqAbCgjUX_tpG19ZrBwJO1ZctChD6KS_7VOlS_YJp318KRzN2FzTfyLoQG38v2CNG0c/s1600/The+First+Detective+Film+-+1911+-+The+Trust%252C+or+The+Battles+for+Money+-+Louis+Feuillade+-+Blindfold.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIFZZqpjyAsMmDSzvckGvwvwyPJHraclMx59zXnVCXWM4ji-66fVduBXi7Hy1uUgJbAzXRfRFRQqAbCgjUX_tpG19ZrBwJO1ZctChD6KS_7VOlS_YJp318KRzN2FzTfyLoQG38v2CNG0c/s320/The+First+Detective+Film+-+1911+-+The+Trust%252C+or+The+Battles+for+Money+-+Louis+Feuillade+-+Blindfold.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br />
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</div><div><div class="MsoNormal">Too often, there are works of art that fade into obscurity which deserve far greater recognition. Several months ago, when Film: Ab Initio began exploring ‘<a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/05/1904-1913-cinemas-forgotten-decade.html">Film’s Forgotten Decade</a>’ (i.e. the period between The Great Train Robbery and The Birth of a Nation), we speculated that there would be a good number of films that may deserve greater attention, whether for their high quality or achieving a particular milestone. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As we near the end of this Forgotten Decade, it is clear that there are a good number of films that are at least the equal of any ‘canonised’ film (when we reach the end of 1913, we will return to this topic in a lot more detail). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Le trust, ou les batailles de l’argent is a film with several milestones: it is the the first detective film, the first thriller, the first corporate espionage film, perhaps even the first film noir. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpciNebRErNreMT1bDR-jbk50rIQVHUDH_15KXzKpKKBvQas1RJ0wWTauV9cVG2JV0X9-tYZQEjSrlLgwgjYLNM8EFx5E1zC3ywlD-0D_hdftAnZ-C569J8wC3FLZ61H8mMFOj0rv0gQc/s1600/The+First+Detective+Film+-+1911+-+The+Trust%252C+or+The+Battles+for+Money+-+Louis+Feuillade+-+Darbois+is+happy+-+Telegraph+room.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpciNebRErNreMT1bDR-jbk50rIQVHUDH_15KXzKpKKBvQas1RJ0wWTauV9cVG2JV0X9-tYZQEjSrlLgwgjYLNM8EFx5E1zC3ywlD-0D_hdftAnZ-C569J8wC3FLZ61H8mMFOj0rv0gQc/s320/The+First+Detective+Film+-+1911+-+The+Trust%252C+or+The+Battles+for+Money+-+Louis+Feuillade+-+Darbois+is+happy+-+Telegraph+room.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">It is also an outstanding film that sees Feuillade experimenting with this new cinematic genre that will lead to his classics, Fantomas, Les Vampires and Judex. Given the lengthy running times of these three seminal works (Les Vampires, for example, is six and a half hours long); Le trust, ou les batailles de l’argent, which is only twenty five minutes long, serves as an insightful introduction into Feuillade’s oeuvre. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHN-1AtN8M08TWtLXLVWcInOZqmy__4peU0s4Njs-BaipIgQ9Vaeys_awq_2wuSE7AOGWI_iGuqBruV9oVz0PoRvMO99cWn_p1Cg1NwW4f0Ksw5ofdHEL0k-BLf_PL0IR4L1fUDx0i0nY/s1600/The+First+Detective+Film+-+1911+-+The+Trust%252C+or+The+Battles+for+Money+-+Louis+Feuillade+-+1st+appearance+of+detective.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHN-1AtN8M08TWtLXLVWcInOZqmy__4peU0s4Njs-BaipIgQ9Vaeys_awq_2wuSE7AOGWI_iGuqBruV9oVz0PoRvMO99cWn_p1Cg1NwW4f0Ksw5ofdHEL0k-BLf_PL0IR4L1fUDx0i0nY/s320/The+First+Detective+Film+-+1911+-+The+Trust%252C+or+The+Battles+for+Money+-+Louis+Feuillade+-+1st+appearance+of+detective.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">The film is also notable for its introduction of the actor <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">René Navarre, who plays detective Julien Kieffer and will go on to play Fantomas. His arrival on screen (see image above) heralds the creation of the modern conception of a male movie star. Although we have seen Max Linder dominate the camera with his charismatic on screen presence, his comedic creations serve as a blueprint for the like of Chaplin and Keaton. In Navarre’s suave exterior, immaculate dress sense and dramatic acting range, we can see the precedent for the like of James Cagney, James Stewart, Cary Grant and many others.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBOCbA19g-j8ZWFOnlAOCISR4e-nPgEx3jL4EbIuoI_Kdk92zMB7ykuUEJsB1SyZVrKc0rx0CZzQP-onj5dIvlYp3UOgC-MOzBnAiYG-4WhhYeN4YejWtfPfWA6QadyktFacVIkHIi5ww/s1600/The+First+Detective+Film+-+1911+-+The+Trust%252C+or+The+Battles+for+Money+-+Louis+Feuillade+-+Darbois+held+at+gunpoint.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBOCbA19g-j8ZWFOnlAOCISR4e-nPgEx3jL4EbIuoI_Kdk92zMB7ykuUEJsB1SyZVrKc0rx0CZzQP-onj5dIvlYp3UOgC-MOzBnAiYG-4WhhYeN4YejWtfPfWA6QadyktFacVIkHIi5ww/s320/The+First+Detective+Film+-+1911+-+The+Trust%252C+or+The+Battles+for+Money+-+Louis+Feuillade+-+Darbois+held+at+gunpoint.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Interestingly, the first detective film’s detective is a corrupt, scheming villain who uses underhand tactics to undermine his client’s chief competitor. His subtle dastardliness allows the film to employ several of its key plot devices without descending into melodrama. For example, when he walks into a room with his hat, a cigarette and an exorbitant amount of swagger (see image below), there is no suggestion that his character is about to place a toxic gas in a vase that will render his victim unconscious. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEnxc-lR9lo3gm0V_O-6aZusBDb_8bkMhxmmkaMAHEO2hYdSvCHnwwdLCOHvdDyDnZ6h8xdT31qcudUeqW6KxnopTap4HPhCPJzQxfz7_sMXdFv5sKlJJFosbEvvtyi44rKLv5mvFoBY4/s1600/The+First+Detective+Film+-+1911+-+The+Trust%252C+or+The+Battles+for+Money+-+Louis+Feuillade+-+Shady+room.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEnxc-lR9lo3gm0V_O-6aZusBDb_8bkMhxmmkaMAHEO2hYdSvCHnwwdLCOHvdDyDnZ6h8xdT31qcudUeqW6KxnopTap4HPhCPJzQxfz7_sMXdFv5sKlJJFosbEvvtyi44rKLv5mvFoBY4/s320/The+First+Detective+Film+-+1911+-+The+Trust%252C+or+The+Battles+for+Money+-+Louis+Feuillade+-+Shady+room.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">Le trust, ou les batailles de l’argent has a most unusual plot. The film involves the detective Julien Kieffer helping the industrialist Jacob Berwick spy on his rival Darbois in order to steal Darbois’ discovery of a formula to manufacture artificial rubber. This is the earliest example of a film that is based around corporate espionage; surprisingly, the film transcends its plot and proves to be compelling viewing. <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxLzX6sayOUmfweFFWWkvXzKBSfwks_yaYDb1eM2iRxIoJdaByF4EwLx1zDBWjs2Zrc0w6avemwcR5kyZFO2B-ooU-dTs3Fl80th2ojsKKabRfXCoJo-7XfCR_SU1LnI_W0MJmJq-Uy34/s1600/The+First+Detective+Film+-+1911+-+The+Trust%252C+or+The+Battles+for+Money+-+Louis+Feuillade+-+Darbois+is+happy+-+Invisible+Ink.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxLzX6sayOUmfweFFWWkvXzKBSfwks_yaYDb1eM2iRxIoJdaByF4EwLx1zDBWjs2Zrc0w6avemwcR5kyZFO2B-ooU-dTs3Fl80th2ojsKKabRfXCoJo-7XfCR_SU1LnI_W0MJmJq-Uy34/s320/The+First+Detective+Film+-+1911+-+The+Trust%252C+or+The+Battles+for+Money+-+Louis+Feuillade+-+Darbois+is+happy+-+Invisible+Ink.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">This is because Feuillade employs a number of devices that one would expect to find in detective fiction (it is worth remembering that Sherlock Holmes was created in 1887 and that the Golden Age of Detective Fiction is still a decade away). There is cross-dressing, mistaken identity, double-crossing, kidnapping and even invisible ink. All of these are conventions<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that we anticipate when we encounter a ‘detective film’, but it worth noting how novel such ideas would have seemed to contemporary audiences; the plot is constructed in a fluid manner that allows the film to captivate the modern audience as well.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg_yfwVvhRoCFzFAfghcV7eeUFZBtNpknnpxvlgCEiNd7T0sSSICL6_suFWmO-6eqAlQjYM1SB2DcKrOxmzjBs7RpESDwmMiCs4lNbs1T7yOCfrd5hvLlcJqcH5E1XU5W8dK4fTdBmZmE/s1600/The+First+Detective+Film+-+1911+-+The+Trust%252C+or+The+Battles+for+Money+-+Louis+Feuillade+-+Shipyard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg_yfwVvhRoCFzFAfghcV7eeUFZBtNpknnpxvlgCEiNd7T0sSSICL6_suFWmO-6eqAlQjYM1SB2DcKrOxmzjBs7RpESDwmMiCs4lNbs1T7yOCfrd5hvLlcJqcH5E1XU5W8dK4fTdBmZmE/s320/The+First+Detective+Film+-+1911+-+The+Trust%252C+or+The+Battles+for+Money+-+Louis+Feuillade+-+Shipyard.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">The film lacks a moral centre, and is all the more interesting for undertaking such a bold decision. Although Darbois and his secretary are the victims of Kieffer’s plotting; the film’s opening shot of Darbois, with his bulging eyes and expensive surroundings (see image below) ensure the audience do not identify either him or his secretary as the protagonists of this film. In fact, the setting reminds us one of the great early cinematic villains, The Wheat King in D.W. Griffith’s Corner of Wheat. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-FVReRa5sQY6pNpIiAu0QXxrGgrsVoS6uqMSMD1eyOTQvhabQG14W_e1UVz9SJ3sY3kXZeEq_CVooNvELYgElKxoesFsZAVYr3MvUfmXeFEqiM5psUeFlGPSVhLCdHzBaNfK5EEli3NE/s1600/The+First+Detective+Film+-+1911+-+The+Trust%252C+or+The+Battles+for+Money+-+Louis+Feuillade+-+Darbois+is+happy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-FVReRa5sQY6pNpIiAu0QXxrGgrsVoS6uqMSMD1eyOTQvhabQG14W_e1UVz9SJ3sY3kXZeEq_CVooNvELYgElKxoesFsZAVYr3MvUfmXeFEqiM5psUeFlGPSVhLCdHzBaNfK5EEli3NE/s320/The+First+Detective+Film+-+1911+-+The+Trust%252C+or+The+Battles+for+Money+-+Louis+Feuillade+-+Darbois+is+happy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">This reference leads us to our first comparison of this decade’s two great directors. Thus far, we have seen that Griffith has an intuitive grasp of iconic visual scenes. Whether it is the rolling barrel in <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/08/dw-griffiths-directorial-debut-1908.html">The Adventures of Dollie</a>, the corm smothering the Wheat King in<a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/08/1909-corner-in-wheat-dw-griffith.html"> Corner in Wheat</a> or the repeated image of the Confederate flag in <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/11/films-first-american-civil-war-film.html">The House with Closed Shutters</a>, Griffith has proved himself capable of conjuring some of early silent cinema’s most iconic images.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG4G4cB9p1ERf6JAPi-fGKNeGGHMHQnxptf6-GwhJEYi_omdAo415v5soeKP0XD9YuKe9P1Dk-bGqImIQdjWFybbQ4dRIXsCxcHeZ2ZzgmmRobez84mfK9Lc2e8UNsEQkYlQstHanPgkU/s1600/The+First+Detective+Film+-+1911+-+The+Trust%252C+or+The+Battles+for+Money+-+Louis+Feuillade+-+Gas+kocks+out+secretary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG4G4cB9p1ERf6JAPi-fGKNeGGHMHQnxptf6-GwhJEYi_omdAo415v5soeKP0XD9YuKe9P1Dk-bGqImIQdjWFybbQ4dRIXsCxcHeZ2ZzgmmRobez84mfK9Lc2e8UNsEQkYlQstHanPgkU/s320/The+First+Detective+Film+-+1911+-+The+Trust%252C+or+The+Battles+for+Money+-+Louis+Feuillade+-+Gas+kocks+out+secretary.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And if there is a weakness in Le trust, ou les batailles de l’argent, it would be that it is slightly over-reliant on telegrams and letters to move the plot forwars. However, this device is manipulated to give the film its key twist, which may not have been possible without the repeated use of letters and telegrams. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">Feuillade though, is also capable of creating iconic scenes and images. In this film alone, the sending of a telegram and particularly the moment where Berwick and his men don their black masks to hide their identity from Bremond (see image below). Griffith has continued the Lumiere Brothers’ exploration of realism, whereas Feuillade has continued <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Méliès’ exploration of the fantastical.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFVqYu1WI8paXeGk9yt-euhpHIMw-OBDpRC4b2o92NvT9Vyxa6H_XyLk1vOizSvI6L50873uv672N2nPyhp3E3UKcWibZV6NP6Bg1Hs67OjD1oW62BC5xCZHZjdP1-VHPerEoL7yDF1KQ/s1600/The+First+Detective+Film+-+1911+-+The+Trust%252C+or+The+Battles+for+Money+-+Louis+Feuillade+-+Darbois+is+happy+-+3+black+masks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFVqYu1WI8paXeGk9yt-euhpHIMw-OBDpRC4b2o92NvT9Vyxa6H_XyLk1vOizSvI6L50873uv672N2nPyhp3E3UKcWibZV6NP6Bg1Hs67OjD1oW62BC5xCZHZjdP1-VHPerEoL7yDF1KQ/s320/The+First+Detective+Film+-+1911+-+The+Trust%252C+or+The+Battles+for+Money+-+Louis+Feuillade+-+Darbois+is+happy+-+3+black+masks.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">Returning to the earlier point, although Griffith has proven himself to be a master of creating iconic scenes and images, I would argue that Feuillade has a stronger grasp of plotting and storytelling. Both Le trust, ou les batailles de l’argent and The Fairy of the Surf have a cumulative effect that few films manage from any era. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Availability: </b>Unfortunately, the increasing length of films means that it is less and less likely that any films will be available on Youtube. To compound this bad news, the only place that the film can be found is on the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gaumont-Treasures-1897-1913-Felix-Mayol/dp/B0029R81JO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1289340729&sr=8-1">Gaumont Treasures DVD</a>, which retails at $79.99. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will keep my eyes glued to Youtube - as soon as this film is uploaded I will embed it on this blog post. </span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-57575994252195365462010-11-08T11:36:00.000+00:002010-11-08T11:36:02.113+00:00Animation Comes Alive - 1911 - Little Nemo - J. Stuart Blackton & Winsor McCay<object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/kcSp2ej2S00?fs=1&hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/kcSp2ej2S00?fs=1&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Little Nemo functions as a promotional vehicle for the multi-talented Winsor McCay; in fact, the film's alternate title is <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Winsor McCay, the Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics. The majority of the film involves McCay preparing his ‘moving comic’ of Little Nemo for his sceptical friends.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggX97o4atnwucwVWsDmtQ0EPzLyNX6jB_WCPQf5Ul0fbxpDCh7ZE5HtYj1teqx9axyGR-bh6GQsZqKSMZzTTKQFld4pVEywwvVQj_wZD6-rjJbIW8J0HR4QHiP1Iq0EIjXVKMk9uaQqpI/s1600/Little+Nemo+-+1911+-+Winsor+McCay+with+friends.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggX97o4atnwucwVWsDmtQ0EPzLyNX6jB_WCPQf5Ul0fbxpDCh7ZE5HtYj1teqx9axyGR-bh6GQsZqKSMZzTTKQFld4pVEywwvVQj_wZD6-rjJbIW8J0HR4QHiP1Iq0EIjXVKMk9uaQqpI/s320/Little+Nemo+-+1911+-+Winsor+McCay+with+friends.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Before entering the world of animated film, McCay was famous for his cartoon strips (we have already looked at a live action cinematic adaptation of one of his cartoon strip <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/07/1906-dream-of-rarebit-fiend-edwin-s.html">Dream of a Rarebit Fiend</a>). Of his various strips, Little Nemo has proved to be his most enduring legacy</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><br />
</span></div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Simply put,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Little Nemo<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>revolutionized the comic strip. At 38, McCay was at the very peak of his talent and the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>New York Herald<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>had the most talented and creative colour printing staff in the business. Together they crafted a weekly fantasy that week by week revealed<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Slumberland<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>to be more magical than even L. Frank Baum's<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Oz<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(created in 1899) and more wonderful than Lewis Carroll's<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Wonderland<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(1865). Books and websites abound praising Nemo far more than I could possibly do in this short bio. Nemo was published in the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>New York Herald<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>until July 23, 1911. The strips have been reprinted many times. Find them and lose yourself in this masterpiece.</span></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiBg-lSgOCbpisiNy8rZjj94wDgfyKRPRwLzFbh3u2HPCh0_-1Co8xz5NOjKdBWg3c0Qan-KM8b5ZmVwMA1FqEQx-FLjpzsSKKL-5zIw5ofUU0qy-2Jl_3noGx-7AdAxOpfC0Q00iu7bI/s1600/Little+Nemo+-+1911+-+Comic+Strip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiBg-lSgOCbpisiNy8rZjj94wDgfyKRPRwLzFbh3u2HPCh0_-1Co8xz5NOjKdBWg3c0Qan-KM8b5ZmVwMA1FqEQx-FLjpzsSKKL-5zIw5ofUU0qy-2Jl_3noGx-7AdAxOpfC0Q00iu7bI/s320/Little+Nemo+-+1911+-+Comic+Strip.jpg" width="242" /></a></div><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">Unfortunately, the strips were <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Nemo">not as popular</a> during McCay’s own era</span><span style="color: black;">:</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The strip was not a great popular success in its time. Most readers preferred the slapstick antics of such strips as</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katzenjammer_Kids" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" title="Katzenjammer Kids" wotsearchprocessed="true"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Katzenjammer Kids</span></span></a></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">,</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Hooligan" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" title="Happy Hooligan" wotsearchprocessed="true"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Happy Hooligan</span></span></a></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, and</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buster_Brown" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" title="Buster Brown" wotsearchprocessed="true"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Buster Brown</span></span></a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to the surreal fantasy of</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nemo</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, and other comic strips like</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krazy_Kat" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" title="Krazy Kat" wotsearchprocessed="true"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Krazy Kat</span></span></a></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span></blockquote><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmjeJDdnLLlHT5VM3QZ6oCkJbt4BxAmxQtI0BtGRNXFuGGemaHQ7fAKvXmLFPd7RjL-vKLne00CsWnfnaLu6-R0Z_zr-eiebGajUieNXHz00qXGN4W5lidx3582q0aYwdNftEKDgi2sOo/s1600/Little+Nemo+-+1911+-+Cover+Art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmjeJDdnLLlHT5VM3QZ6oCkJbt4BxAmxQtI0BtGRNXFuGGemaHQ7fAKvXmLFPd7RjL-vKLne00CsWnfnaLu6-R0Z_zr-eiebGajUieNXHz00qXGN4W5lidx3582q0aYwdNftEKDgi2sOo/s320/Little+Nemo+-+1911+-+Cover+Art.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Therefore, although some of the contemporary viewers will have been familiar with McCay’s work, others audience members would have been unaware of McCay’s background as a cartoonist. This meant his background was similar to that of his co-director J. Stuart Blackton, who also began his career as a cartoonist. Furthermore, the symbolism of America’s earliest animation pioneer passing the baton to his immediate successor is evident with the co-direction credits for both Blackton and McCay.</span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One of the reasons the film portrays McCay’s thought process behind his creation of his ‘moving pictures’, is that as well as being a cartoonist McCay was also a vaudeville artist. McCay had begun his vaudeville act five years earlier and the film served as a great promotional tool for his act.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo16sBpfTke_BocxqUbHqo1NkLtzMI4_rmq2NSm5V9hufMQdxvitDFblhdVXI3s0WlIdBwcakg6L_yBE7Dtxlg7_ss09u9ILDMCkw4fRdbeN6abnXNPYbkWojlQqhi9cxzpNf0Tr4lfm0/s1600/Little+Nemo+-+1911+-+Three+Men.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo16sBpfTke_BocxqUbHqo1NkLtzMI4_rmq2NSm5V9hufMQdxvitDFblhdVXI3s0WlIdBwcakg6L_yBE7Dtxlg7_ss09u9ILDMCkw4fRdbeN6abnXNPYbkWojlQqhi9cxzpNf0Tr4lfm0/s1600/Little+Nemo+-+1911+-+Three+Men.jpg" /></a></div><span style="color: black;"><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, the weakest part of the film is this lengthy explanation of why and how he went about creating the 4,000 images that began his career as an animator. The section is overtly long, which often undercuts the intended effect of a particular scene. For example, the audience is presented with the fascinating image of McCay surrounded by his thousands of drawings (see image below). <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitP0D6PRLuDm3_Eu5Ugarxc6naWvevHXVs9z0l3u_itBTD1CFMWszJBGVJqlX2kotTdNNESCw8_YTYtXqLAjEDuI5Wn9LU6Kx_0NoHdhKbd07KGiiQUdu5uvNPh9tdCNshUUlk4XlxOVU/s1600/Little+Nemo+-+1911+-+Drawing+room.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitP0D6PRLuDm3_Eu5Ugarxc6naWvevHXVs9z0l3u_itBTD1CFMWszJBGVJqlX2kotTdNNESCw8_YTYtXqLAjEDuI5Wn9LU6Kx_0NoHdhKbd07KGiiQUdu5uvNPh9tdCNshUUlk4XlxOVU/s1600/Little+Nemo+-+1911+-+Drawing+room.jpg" /></a></div><span style="color: black;"><br />
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<div style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="color: black;">A co-worker or cleaner continually interrupts him and eventually knocks over the majority of the images that have clearly been placed in sequential order. The scene’s unnecessary length stifles the humour of the scene and McCay’s reaction to the spillage further dents any humour that may have been intended. Little Nemo compares unfavourably to<a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/11/films-first-postmodern-film-les-debuts.html"> the Max Linder film</a> that we just looked at in terms of drawing humour from self-referential scenes in an early silent film.</span></div><div style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="color: black;">I also feel that the film missed an opportunity in choosing to evade the question of how the ‘moving images’ were put together. Although we see McCay draw several images and then later witness him in his office surrounded by his images, what would have interested me most would have been to see how he put together the various drawings in order to conjure the fantastical animation that closes the film.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="color: black;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpGgixv-vj7aptGzfXx_DvWYDJGQTYR0zjCRv2bUp-E7fkkMH1pERTCu-UJG_B71nHYmbdCBggSAIPhtTWHH5SZooz8pTLvNfubXJPYogMB5WXdiYbb18rRL06P9xvuvY9Hw-E_DT76ro/s1600/Little+Nemo+-+1911+-+McCay+draws.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpGgixv-vj7aptGzfXx_DvWYDJGQTYR0zjCRv2bUp-E7fkkMH1pERTCu-UJG_B71nHYmbdCBggSAIPhtTWHH5SZooz8pTLvNfubXJPYogMB5WXdiYbb18rRL06P9xvuvY9Hw-E_DT76ro/s1600/Little+Nemo+-+1911+-+McCay+draws.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="color: black;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="color: black;">It is the animation that the film should be judged by; under this criterion the film is a great success. The level of detail and the introduction of colour mean that Little Nemo is light years ahead of its predecessors. Although, it does not share the rapid inventiveness of <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/09/1910-animated-masterpiece-hashers.html">The Hasher’s Delirium</a> or <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/07/first-fully-animated-film-1908.html">Fantasmagorie</a>, it has no need to do so because the characters that McCay draws are far more concrete and realised. </span></div><div style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="color: black;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibDrqQAbk19nFT2kqo9es_VcJC5HgqFDSswDEIhpxhWKukDQPrDD-UbVyHCC6Rt4T3WvP0JcT6RbVnHUV95c9yLIg7LNtNn8I7l9TDS51OAPFXiykleGphhyphenhyphen8BLNTkj7NpYnroEN6teyE/s1600/Little+Nemo+-+1911+-+Roses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibDrqQAbk19nFT2kqo9es_VcJC5HgqFDSswDEIhpxhWKukDQPrDD-UbVyHCC6Rt4T3WvP0JcT6RbVnHUV95c9yLIg7LNtNn8I7l9TDS51OAPFXiykleGphhyphenhyphen8BLNTkj7NpYnroEN6teyE/s320/Little+Nemo+-+1911+-+Roses.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="color: black;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="color: black;">The scene where a ‘prince’ give his ‘princess’ a rose (see image above) and their subsequent seating in a dragon’s mouth (see image below) is the most breathtaking image that we have witnessed thus far in animation’s brief history. The addition of a multitude of colours provides the animation with a richness that animation craves far more than live action films do.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="color: black;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_tqOnO74x-WD43qssH1A5Vokt9QgoQBOlCWjHU2M0lFWa_Yivumq18YJqgJPlU8G0wU-ZUiQ8Vb7pGwzSX28jkG1VtxIMbye8HhLVhZuYpvSZ2kXZuot0xChMjboJzed-IFzpXR2ly4k/s1600/Little+Nemo+-+1911+-+Couple+&+Dragon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_tqOnO74x-WD43qssH1A5Vokt9QgoQBOlCWjHU2M0lFWa_Yivumq18YJqgJPlU8G0wU-ZUiQ8Vb7pGwzSX28jkG1VtxIMbye8HhLVhZuYpvSZ2kXZuot0xChMjboJzed-IFzpXR2ly4k/s1600/Little+Nemo+-+1911+-+Couple+&+Dragon.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="color: black;">Little Nemo marks a significant step in animation’s maturation as an art form. Although its live action sequence is arduous and over-long, the brief animated sequence’s concentrated brilliance more than makes up for this earlier shortfall. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-10269158025583680192010-11-07T22:20:00.002+00:002010-11-17T14:49:47.875+00:00Film's first postmodern film - 1910 - Les Débuts de Max au Cinématographe - Max Linder's Debut As a Cinematograph Artist - Max Linder & Louis J. Gasnier<object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rQSvHBibiiI?fs=1&hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rQSvHBibiiI?fs=1&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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<h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">Much has been made of the recent ‘discovery’ of a supposed time-traveller in the footage of the premiere of Chaplin's 1928 film the Circus. While the theory was <a href="http://www.movieviral.com/2010/11/05/discovery-networks-explains-chaplins-time-traveler-video/">swiftly debunked</a>, it was undeniably exciting to see the internet abuzz with discussion about a silent film. <o:p></o:p></span></span></h1><div><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;"><br />
</span></span></div><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;"> It is a great shame that this temporary mainstream interest in the silent era will not extend itself for a longer period, because the silent era achieved some remarkable time-bending feats. For example, Max Linder’s </span></span><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">Les Débuts de Max au Cinématographe can stake a claim to be the first postmodern film. Now although postmodernism is one of those slippery terms which Harold Bloom would describe as over-determined in figuration and under-determined in meaning, my understanding of postmodernism in this context is the <a href="http://ab-ed.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/go/aboriginal-art/protecting-australian-indigenous-art/glossary-and-resources">following</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal;">:</span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><o:p> </o:p></span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Postmodernism is characterised by irony, appropriation and self-reference. In particular, the movement has uncovered the presence of source ideas, information and influences. It has therefore challenged the idea of ‘originality’. It has also made artworks resistant to straightforward assumptions about the place of the author and the interpreter. </span><o:p></o:p></span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><o:p> </o:p></span></h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXoOUxLHaX0ervNgkGcLhFPe9kh37d0wqN85ftGfo5PNN0yGDymeRCa9XZ59Fo0FjxSz90ocGUIL9-N1h-HZswqf4fj6JMrPZe9gvep0CIRH-Ug8ZuJN3vP0mOxlmwBK_C8bKCMQApUG4/s1600/Max+Linder+1910.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXoOUxLHaX0ervNgkGcLhFPe9kh37d0wqN85ftGfo5PNN0yGDymeRCa9XZ59Fo0FjxSz90ocGUIL9-N1h-HZswqf4fj6JMrPZe9gvep0CIRH-Ug8ZuJN3vP0mOxlmwBK_C8bKCMQApUG4/s1600/Max+Linder+1910.jpg" /></a></div><div><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><o:p><br />
</o:p></span></div><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">Les Débuts de Max au Cinématographe is a film about the process of film-making. The film opens with a scene we might expect to see in Charlie Kaufmann’s Adaptation or even the television show Entourage, with Linder’s character visiting Charles Pathé. <o:p></o:p></span></h1><div><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><br />
</span></div><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"> Charles Pathé was one of the most powerful film moguls of the early silent era, and there is little doubt that any aspiring film maker in 1910 would have had to undertake a similar approach to getting his/her film made. The acute self-referential nature of this scene bears the hallmarks of a seminal postmodern work, yet it pre-dates this school of thought by around half a century! Examples of artists pre-empting major critical movements in such a manner deserve as much attention as mistaken time-travellers. <o:p></o:p></span></h1><div><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><br />
</span></div><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">After Linder’s character has given the incredibly busy Pathé his recommendation letter and meets a few other industry men, he begins rehearsing a scene with another actor/director. It is only later on that we learn that Linder and his friend are rehearsing a scene that will be used in Linder’s film within a film towards the end of the movie. However, Linder’s desire to constantly remind the audience that they are watching a film that is about the process of making a film ‘breaks’ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_wall">the fourth wall</a>, which is another characteristic of a typical postmodern work:<o:p></o:p></span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><o:p> </o:p></span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The acceptance of the transparency of the fourth wall is part of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_of_disbelief" title="Suspension of disbelief">suspension of disbelief</a> between a fictional work and an audience, allowing them to enjoy the fiction as if they were observing real events. Although the critic <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Canby" title="Vincent Canby">Vincent Canby</a> described it in 1987 as "that invisible <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/screen" title="wikt:screen">screen</a> that forever separates the audience from the stage," <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism" title="Postmodernism">postmodern art forms</a> frequently either do away with it entirely, or make use of various framing devices to manipulate it in order to emphasize or de-emphasize certain aspects of the production, according to the artistic desires of the work's creator.</span><o:p></o:p></span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><o:p> </o:p></span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">This self-awareness of form and subject matter is highlighted again before the ‘scene’ in the studio begins; Linder and the two female characters have a brief conversation where they appear amiable towards one another, before Linder’s character walks away from the camera and then returns ‘in character’. Linder’s constant inventiveness and playfulness illuminates this magnificent film and allows it to be both intellectually stimulating and extremely funny. <o:p></o:p></span></h1><div><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><br />
</span></div><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">The latter point is crucial to emphasise as the film is perhaps the funniest Linder film the Film: Ab Initio list has observed to date. It manages to incorporate Linder’s earlier slapstick humour with an intellectual curiosity that deepens the humour of certain scenes. For example, when Linder is slapped by one of the female characters in the studio scene, the humour is amplified by the audience’s remembrance of Linder practising this slap with a male actor/director in an earlier scene. <o:p></o:p></span></h1><div><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><br />
</span></div><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">The sophistication and dexterity of humour that Linder offers us in this film is worthy of any of the great comics of any era and fuels my belief Linder’s marginal reputation is unworthy of his considerable talents.<o:p></o:p></span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">The final irony of the film’s postmodern nature is the fact that Les Débuts de Max au Cinématographe is the first Max Linder film on the Film: Ab Initio list where he is given a direction credit...<o:p></o:p></span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></span></h1><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-outline-level: 1;"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-13971267769025332332010-11-06T08:19:00.000+00:002010-11-06T08:19:53.255+00:00Film's first American Civil War film - 1910 - The House with Closed Shutters - D.W. Griffith<object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NF14y2POe6o?fs=1&hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NF14y2POe6o?fs=1&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> One of the unique characteristics of the great directors of the early silent era is the sheer breadth of material that their earliest films covered. Both Griffith and Feuillade spent the first few years of the second decade of the twentieth century honing their craft in a variety of genres and topics in order to allow them to both deliver their seminal works half a decade later.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Thus far, we have seen Griffith portray a parable on greed and the kidnapping of a young child. In Griffith’s third film on the Film: Ab Initio list, The House with Closed Shutters, Griffith now tackles the subject matter of his most famous film the Birth of a Nation: the Civil War.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The film tells the story of a confederate soldier who abandons his fellow soldiers in the midst of battle and returns home, only to be replaced by his sister (in what is the first example of cross dressing that we have seen on the Film: Ab Initio list). When she is killed in battle and the soldiers assume that he has died a heroic death, his mother closes her son off from the world to ensure that his cowardice does not shame their family.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Just from summarising the film’s brief plot, it is clear that film is gravitating towards the concept of a steam-lined linear narrative. Whereas in earlier films, the plot is often more dispersed and episodic (see early films like <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/06/1905-la-presa-di-roma-taking-of-rome.html">La Presa Di Roma</a>, <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/06/1903-alice-in-wonderland-cecil-hepworth.html">Alice in Wonderland</a> and <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/07/first-roman-film-1907-ben-hur-sidney.html">Ben Hur</a>), whereas The House with Closed Shutters involves a more ‘straightforward’ story in the sense that we might expect from any mainstream Hollywood film of the last seventy years. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3yREpjtksr76kRUWTBVQRIVIyV4bmE-pqYBpPHXd-2qDrzdIcQczB0bok9L6r5I2uHKi9JDaS1U1Ga6vCZuNeUZWS07DVKK6h9uw0xjNTo9fTWrNlvynG3qNw2sl48PdpUqTn25Jr8UE/s1600/The+House+with+Closed+Shutters+-+1910+-+Sister+sews+Confederate+flag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3yREpjtksr76kRUWTBVQRIVIyV4bmE-pqYBpPHXd-2qDrzdIcQczB0bok9L6r5I2uHKi9JDaS1U1Ga6vCZuNeUZWS07DVKK6h9uw0xjNTo9fTWrNlvynG3qNw2sl48PdpUqTn25Jr8UE/s320/The+House+with+Closed+Shutters+-+1910+-+Sister+sews+Confederate+flag.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Griffith’s eye for iconic imagery that heightens the emotive intensity of his film making is apparent in The House with Closed Shutters. The strongest example of this is the relationship between the confederate flag and the heroic sister. The film opens with the emblematic image of the confederate flag being sewed by the soldier’s sister (see image above). She is next seen with the flag when she has taken the place of her brother on the battlefield, where she recklessly carries it beyond the soldiers in front of her and is shot down by the opposing forces (see image below). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbKT5r9Qg-vRUyU27qniZPzRMbeLyZXD_xZEs2cnNSX58Usc_jiBM8UhiK3aoEUpVhv-6bBTTGFM6LuHqFQl9OJksAr3l5TzjTZ8tc1_x74N4xLKZynQXuzWATKJy54e2zkv05y3LjjCI/s1600/The+House+with+Closed+Shutters+-+1910+-+Sister+runs+with+Confederate+flag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbKT5r9Qg-vRUyU27qniZPzRMbeLyZXD_xZEs2cnNSX58Usc_jiBM8UhiK3aoEUpVhv-6bBTTGFM6LuHqFQl9OJksAr3l5TzjTZ8tc1_x74N4xLKZynQXuzWATKJy54e2zkv05y3LjjCI/s1600/The+House+with+Closed+Shutters+-+1910+-+Sister+runs+with+Confederate+flag.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Griffith’s perceived racism is well documented, but in this instance Griffith must be commended for allowing his female protagonist possess the valour and bravery that the male protagonist lacks. Given that in the US, women would not be permitted to join the military in roles other than nurses until 1940 when the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was formed and that they would have to wait until 1978 to serve alongside their fellow male troops; Griffith deserves credit for making this bold move.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The film’s most impressive scenes involve the complex choreography of the battle scenes. Griffith portrays a carnage filled battlefield with great success; although smoke covers up much of the immediate image as the Confederate forces fire at their enemy, the image of the Yankees emerging from the smoke to viciously overrun their opposing forces is one of early cinema’s most iconic images.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For not only does this scene herald the charge of the Yankee forces, it also symbolises the imminent dominance of American cinema that would go on to be unchallenged for close to a century. Film allows America to indulge in mythopoesis in the newest of artistic mediums, thus allowing American national events of significance, such as the American Civil War, to have a resounding effect on the rest of the globe. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The film’s least enjoyable moments occur in the protagonist’s house; they allow the actors to indulge in overacting and often seem overly long when they are compared to the relentless pace of the battle scenes. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Overall, the film is essential viewing for anyone who is interested in the genesis of American cinema. It is clear that Griffith revels in telling stories about the Civil War, and the high quality of the best parts of The House with the Closed Shutters make it unsurprising that Griffith returned to the same subject matter almost half a decade later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-52330635596461668842010-11-05T13:19:00.000+00:002010-11-05T13:19:07.161+00:00Film's first great horror film - 1910 - Frankenstein - J. Searle Dawley<object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TcLxsOJK9bs?fs=1&hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TcLxsOJK9bs?fs=1&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Unlike many of film’s early adaptations of literary works, the first cinematic adaptation of Frankenstein is the equal of its more famous successors. Rather than allowing the film’s limited reel time to limit its portrayal of Mary Shelley’s gothic novel, the film flourishes within the boundaries of its limitations. The filmmaker manages to translate the original text into the cinematic equivalent of a powerful Poe or Robert Louis Stevenson short story and concentrate the impact of the text’s fable.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghDXbWvnIbEs30NYcW5gUcbLkiaXKKea1iOWSJ0bJUDuwLXFyVYhA20UFf_KBymMllEqa_GXM1W2PEjgv1M0zAmDtPfH49HTkUdYhR-nJzqWC-HqBnPg3tmtUKwwx3zkyCttsi1B0Zfm0/s1600/Frankenstein+-+1910+-+Monster+sees+his+master.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghDXbWvnIbEs30NYcW5gUcbLkiaXKKea1iOWSJ0bJUDuwLXFyVYhA20UFf_KBymMllEqa_GXM1W2PEjgv1M0zAmDtPfH49HTkUdYhR-nJzqWC-HqBnPg3tmtUKwwx3zkyCttsi1B0Zfm0/s320/Frankenstein+-+1910+-+Monster+sees+his+master.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The film makes a bold departure from its source by giving the viewer the impression that the Monster may in fact be a figment of Frankenstein’s imagination. As the film draws to a close, this uncertainty compounds the tension of the film’s climactic moments. As the viewer is unsure of the Monster’s existence, our confusion transforms into excitement as Frankenstein grapples with his creation while his wife lays unconscious on the floor; we cannot be sure if he is wrestling with his conscience or actually fighting with his creation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Nao2nvuPQeiBNkyJb9QFIN52SEVc70hbFw_Kgdh50Bfwubuq-u7AU3ftE9n2Fitt3BZn2KqYIsiFuISWYYKSlIouIxGcc3_Z4aPQmI10Kq2chmJn5RkIJV7Rh_-2Plr8TdncQCDuGbI/s1600/Frankenstein+-+1910+-+The+Experiment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Nao2nvuPQeiBNkyJb9QFIN52SEVc70hbFw_Kgdh50Bfwubuq-u7AU3ftE9n2Fitt3BZn2KqYIsiFuISWYYKSlIouIxGcc3_Z4aPQmI10Kq2chmJn5RkIJV7Rh_-2Plr8TdncQCDuGbI/s320/Frankenstein+-+1910+-+The+Experiment.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One of the main reasons for the film’s power is its deliberate exploitation of the power of visual terror. Although Georges Mèliès consistently dabbled in the horror genre with his many incarnations of devils and monsters, they amused more than they frightened. The monster in Frankenstein, particularly when he is being created, is simultaneously grotesque and petrifying (particularly when it expands in Frankenstein’s cauldron (See image below)). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh6hX3nPFRF-lIx67ETIBMmY2Q6vVPpo0mE9HkuGjN2tXdaiwvMeraN_KQztLmrZIvM_J5BoWUIOGFyDKjh6pL68pglnGxSDWuw9HA76VryYD_Zk3b8T4_0q8_OYgJf_yQM9pI3uw46UY/s1600/Frankenstein+-+1910+-+The+Monster+transforms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh6hX3nPFRF-lIx67ETIBMmY2Q6vVPpo0mE9HkuGjN2tXdaiwvMeraN_KQztLmrZIvM_J5BoWUIOGFyDKjh6pL68pglnGxSDWuw9HA76VryYD_Zk3b8T4_0q8_OYgJf_yQM9pI3uw46UY/s320/Frankenstein+-+1910+-+The+Monster+transforms.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This groundbreaking horror film was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein_(1910_film)">presumed lost </a></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">for close to half a century:</span></div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For many years, this film was believed to be a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_film" title="Lost film"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">lost film</span></a>. In 1963, a plot description (reprinted above) and stills were discovered published in the March 15, 1910 issue of an old Edison film catalog, The Edison Kinetogram.</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the early 1950s, a print of this film was purchased by a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin" title="Wisconsin"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Wisconsin</span></a> film collector, Alois F. Dettlaff, from his mother-in-law, who also collected films.He did not realize its rarity until many years later. Its existence was first revealed in the mid-1970s. Although somewhat deteriorated, the film was in viewable condition, complete with titles and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_tinting" title="Film tinting"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">tints</span></a> as seen in 1910. Dettlaff had a 35 mm preservation copy made in the late 1970s. He also issued a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD" title="DVD"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">DVD</span></a> release of 1,000 copies.</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">BearManor Media released the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain" title="Public domain"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">public domain</span></a> film in a restored edition on March 18, 2010, alongside with the novel Edison's Frankenstein, which was written by Frederick C. Wiebel, Jr.</span></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGq7zZ8NrsbaZWzkhJjAfogkuvAnJ6G_hOxhaYUpxPKPI4YKbGJTs9jxFHZN3nyJrqkqVbJmVh90dIqNkk9mQzaj6IJbgqfydPjn4bPLxoRIDSvdIGnQUP6H-nf871FPcakrJAcE1PCU4/s1600/Frankenstein+-+1910+-+Frankenstein's+office.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGq7zZ8NrsbaZWzkhJjAfogkuvAnJ6G_hOxhaYUpxPKPI4YKbGJTs9jxFHZN3nyJrqkqVbJmVh90dIqNkk9mQzaj6IJbgqfydPjn4bPLxoRIDSvdIGnQUP6H-nf871FPcakrJAcE1PCU4/s320/Frankenstein+-+1910+-+Frankenstein's+office.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Although we must be greatly appreciative of the rediscovery of this landmark movie, we cannot help be saddened by the knowledge that many of the other great films of the era will remain lost forever.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Interestingly, the film was<a href="http://classic-horror.com/reviews/frankenstein_1910"> also banned</a> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">after its release:</span></div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was the very first "creation" film. At the time, the religious zealots thought the film was making a mockery of God, so the film was banned very shortly after its release. After that, it was condemned to obscurity...</span></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwzuZiPzX1rtRP-zDVe3msAoU2BczmDZfaWTZJgi1rdRtSFA_fu1IzdZ0tcNKqKa4OHYrKOYCRd3rp5mnQ3WPzxg5Ka0xqpK5223TbrTj5RcKQCc0M-8sgqLoqpnItjosYB8qrwpxb_DE/s1600/Frankenstein+-+1910+-Fight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwzuZiPzX1rtRP-zDVe3msAoU2BczmDZfaWTZJgi1rdRtSFA_fu1IzdZ0tcNKqKa4OHYrKOYCRd3rp5mnQ3WPzxg5Ka0xqpK5223TbrTj5RcKQCc0M-8sgqLoqpnItjosYB8qrwpxb_DE/s320/Frankenstein+-+1910+-Fight.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The film employs the use of a mirror with great success. Cinema’s obsession with the complex relationship between the voyeur and his/her subject(s) really takes off with this film. In the film’s most powerful sequence of events, several characters appear in the mirror in quick succession. In the second of these images, Frankenstein sees the Monster appear in the mirror and is startled by his presence as his fiancé is in the next room (see image below).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But after Frankenstein’s fiancé re-enters the room and he hurriedly attempts to lead her out of that same room, they are now trapped in the mirror’s frame as the Monster observes them from his hidden location (see image below). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The mirror and the camera lens share many similar properties; the complex interplay between these two reflective instruments deepens the allegorical framework of Shelley’s original text. And as the film comes to its gripping conclusion, the mirror plays a crucial role in ‘defeating’ the Monster and implicating that it was in fact a manifestation of the darker recesses of Frankenstein’s imagination.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This brilliant film demonstrates that early silent films are capable of both containing complex, allegorical narratives and frightening modern day audiences. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
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</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com432tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-41099805532145612842010-10-31T23:12:00.000+00:002010-10-31T23:12:10.016+00:001910 - King Lear - Gerolamo Lo Savio<embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" id="VideoPlayback" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=5806434659491607433&hl=en&fs=true" style="height: 380px; width: 340px;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed> <br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">King Lear is the third Shakespeare film to be critiqued by Film: Ab Initio; it is also the third Shakespeare film to be produced by a different country (<a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/08/1909-midsummer-nights-dream-charles.html">A Midsummer’s Night Dream </a>was made in America and <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/08/first-successful-shakespeare-adaptation.html">the Tempest</a> was made in the UK). Therefore, in the early silent era of cinema, Shakespeare functions as a prism through which the various countries bend cinema’s white light.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Italian film company which produced this version of King Lear, Film D’Arte Italiana, placed significant emphasis on both the cinematography and costume design. The stencilled colouring adds depth to both, providing the film with an extra layer of depth. The importance of such details in early cinema cannot be over-exaggerated; for example, when the film is contrasted with Vitagraph’s 1909 film A Midsummer’s Night Dream, the gulf in quality is apparent (unfortunately, the deterioration of the print of King Lear available online is more significant than that available on the Silent Shakespeare DVD) . <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9IE57z29w4X5oH3uXRFUNJSoZY-TKhMjJKx6gSHpDhPmYi4Q616oT6UeQHBzQgbB2W3Al6hZIRUDSq4Cc3nQEyPu-omwANQSKMJf0pxzOTwqQujiq5p31RFSuoPb4hofpe0QTw7XPVPg/s1600/King+Lear+1910+-+Lear+Curses+Daughters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9IE57z29w4X5oH3uXRFUNJSoZY-TKhMjJKx6gSHpDhPmYi4Q616oT6UeQHBzQgbB2W3Al6hZIRUDSq4Cc3nQEyPu-omwANQSKMJf0pxzOTwqQujiq5p31RFSuoPb4hofpe0QTw7XPVPg/s320/King+Lear+1910+-+Lear+Curses+Daughters.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For example, just before Cordelia’s death, the camera focuses on both the gentleman in the foreground of the scene <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and </i>the soldiers who are in the distance, standing underneath a stone bridge <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(see image below)</b>. This stunning image literally expands the space on the canvas the filmmaker has available to him and furthers the separation between film and theatre.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsx14J_vWo3bzS3NzCrzSnQJY9tSz_q5TCLAEjDXZR5BMJb_CU24TbkwAQwXN0J_90SpsYNeCPjX7yu-lr0KrrLBh4BLavKBTB0OQ72FIYqOieKuJPfeZnMmUHkHp9TX8yq9RePfnSPyU/s1600/King+Lear+1910+-+background+shot+before+Cordelia's+death.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsx14J_vWo3bzS3NzCrzSnQJY9tSz_q5TCLAEjDXZR5BMJb_CU24TbkwAQwXN0J_90SpsYNeCPjX7yu-lr0KrrLBh4BLavKBTB0OQ72FIYqOieKuJPfeZnMmUHkHp9TX8yq9RePfnSPyU/s320/King+Lear+1910+-+background+shot+before+Cordelia's+death.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The colouring plays a significant role in establishing the film as a cinematic experience rather than a print recording of a play. The symbolism of the opening sequence, where the fool sits on Lear’s throne before Lear enters the courtyard himself, is enhanced by the contrast in colouring of their respective outfits <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(see image below). </b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEBrjmghaw0ZXYlGJ9hdZy5RjPKiqnn_MJl5lBNbgO25q6qBgwpv8wymJVtFSEhl1YtK-uYAiDGtfYcKBDjil7JwcSJMzHNCgpw401aQ-feDrQLh_4ONxMzMnZOUXNFD9NrfklmM_M0_s/s1600/King+Lear+1910+-+Fool+sits+on+throne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEBrjmghaw0ZXYlGJ9hdZy5RjPKiqnn_MJl5lBNbgO25q6qBgwpv8wymJVtFSEhl1YtK-uYAiDGtfYcKBDjil7JwcSJMzHNCgpw401aQ-feDrQLh_4ONxMzMnZOUXNFD9NrfklmM_M0_s/s320/King+Lear+1910+-+Fool+sits+on+throne.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As modern viewers, we are often surprised when we encounter colouring on such early film. However, according to the commentary on the Silent Shakespeare DVD: between 1895 and 1930, 80% of films were projected in something other than black and white. Although the DVD suggests that this figure may be slightly exaggerated, there is little doubt that much of this colouring has failed to survive. This is because the dyes used were highly mutable and prone to fade.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrInc2AWuwujnr9OScT4sZRUgmpf3La3tz92J8N06sogsdk6ULa28NhBeAGb2IOdC1xsjKoZ1jbx1tXiA193HzUQcJ6YZ4Bg1Sv-brOZrCfDRGgEp4P1iJNKthKBL9l5nxPDduIoOqbnw/s1600/King+Lear+1910+-+Barracks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrInc2AWuwujnr9OScT4sZRUgmpf3La3tz92J8N06sogsdk6ULa28NhBeAGb2IOdC1xsjKoZ1jbx1tXiA193HzUQcJ6YZ4Bg1Sv-brOZrCfDRGgEp4P1iJNKthKBL9l5nxPDduIoOqbnw/s320/King+Lear+1910+-+Barracks.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We have witnessed colouring before in<a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/05/films-first-cinemagician-magic-of.html"> early Méliès films</a> and in Feuillade’s <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/08/films-first-fairytale-1909-fairy-of.html">The Fairy of the Surf</a>, but not to the extent that it is on show here. And given the pathos of the subject matter it is often richly evocative; for example, the barren wilderness of the trees behind Lear as he stumbles in his madness add a sense of desolation that make Lear’s pain even more acute. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgplmoF08UCX4Aa3H2AA-yskuoAAADAIvhb2sb-FOdXs-r1OaGO9gS0ZsWId_SUkZg5HNd0z49kDpS30Xyk8wm9OFKSYdrbk-r2wBWmqEyOXl9Ejq-6EVszZjl0A5zGsIMaxebS0gNYlio/s1600/King+Lear+1910+-+Lear's+Madness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgplmoF08UCX4Aa3H2AA-yskuoAAADAIvhb2sb-FOdXs-r1OaGO9gS0ZsWId_SUkZg5HNd0z49kDpS30Xyk8wm9OFKSYdrbk-r2wBWmqEyOXl9Ejq-6EVszZjl0A5zGsIMaxebS0gNYlio/s320/King+Lear+1910+-+Lear's+Madness.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cast of the film were renowned theatrical actors, yet they avoid the pitfall of overplaying their roles to compensate for a lack of spoken word. Ermete Novelli’s portrayal of Lear is the largest performance we have seen on screen to date. There are moments when his performance is too grandiose, but such moments are few and far between. The brevity of the film forces a violent shift in his emotions, but his Lear is compassionate, overbearing and deeply endearing. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfYoXyDG2pXZeLP3roGJRcYlcE89P35Qw2Od9x0izb18lBN7wtwREKkx5lEgqzOemZEdN4PbdKJgVF3Y_aQq2ysEy1Z4P5hDqVTAg_qbtoU5Q9zPcTF8h2-wqWaavKTjCTyZxLqEOQBn0/s1600/King+Lear+1910+-+Cordelia+n+Lear+reunion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfYoXyDG2pXZeLP3roGJRcYlcE89P35Qw2Od9x0izb18lBN7wtwREKkx5lEgqzOemZEdN4PbdKJgVF3Y_aQq2ysEy1Z4P5hDqVTAg_qbtoU5Q9zPcTF8h2-wqWaavKTjCTyZxLqEOQBn0/s320/King+Lear+1910+-+Cordelia+n+Lear+reunion.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Perhaps the most tender moment we have witnessed in any film so far occurs when Cordelia is reunited with her father. It may be a moment embedded in the collective conscience of the English canon, but the scene is shot in a cinematic rather than theatrical manner. Novelli’s Lear lies silently as Francesca Bertini’s Cordelia glides towards her father and gently embraces him. The seamless of chemistry of these two actors exacerbates that most painful moment when Lear hold his dead daughter in his arms. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidrGw2AS67tXg9Wx_RnlOQxMbr7QkyfuvJJT-G4_Exmp-_9cjNMrxD_yUVGYX7ATXtJm3dB1ECVOuV8Y7eKnQM-4qU7-FphMOh-voNUxGH80p3vBjBXwgB__Qxgg0OW7f4y9wwP_MGBZM/s1600/King+Lear+1910+-+Reagan's+house.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidrGw2AS67tXg9Wx_RnlOQxMbr7QkyfuvJJT-G4_Exmp-_9cjNMrxD_yUVGYX7ATXtJm3dB1ECVOuV8Y7eKnQM-4qU7-FphMOh-voNUxGH80p3vBjBXwgB__Qxgg0OW7f4y9wwP_MGBZM/s320/King+Lear+1910+-+Reagan's+house.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The film focuses solely on the main narrative strand of the play and strings together a more coherent narrative than any of the theatrical or literary adaptations we have witnessed thus far. This is all the more impressive given the difficulty of its source in comparison with much of the more comic material that was adapted to a lesser degree of success by earlier filmmakers. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR3UqxU5Uhaxrj3KWwbZem3PT7pXWxxE8gFWQKfG4WrATxYOAP5yDscdXtHpa58fkh6LKDSpKEB22LS5FBg4TxHjG9-JqqdvzZH8SEEhMBuQOET8mtSMgcMJbiGGQ3MfB6NBuJYTw1rfk/s1600/King+Lear+1910+-+Cordelia's+death.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR3UqxU5Uhaxrj3KWwbZem3PT7pXWxxE8gFWQKfG4WrATxYOAP5yDscdXtHpa58fkh6LKDSpKEB22LS5FBg4TxHjG9-JqqdvzZH8SEEhMBuQOET8mtSMgcMJbiGGQ3MfB6NBuJYTw1rfk/s320/King+Lear+1910+-+Cordelia's+death.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The only precedent we have of film tackling tragedy is <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/08/first-cinematic-roman-tragedy-1909.html">Nerone </a>(another Italian film), which shared similar stellar production values and a compelling narrative too. It will be interesting to observe Italian cinema’s growth over the next decade and witness its tackling of similarly ambitious subject matter. <o:p></o:p></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-59165089810465391772010-09-26T17:12:00.000+01:002010-09-26T17:12:00.968+01:001910 - King Edward VII's Funeral<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zjx6bJcM8Ao?fs=1&hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zjx6bJcM8Ao?fs=1&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">King Edward VII’s funeral, which took place on Friday 20 May 1910, was a one of the 20<sup>th</sup> Century’s first ‘global events’. Royalty from all over Europe (for a full list of the funeral’s royal attendees, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral_of_Edward_VII">click here</a>) attended the event, in what would be one of the final flourishes of the European monarchical system before it was devoured by the cataclysmic events of the First World War.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzJySNMl2FgskjDEmyiEwoCO911ahR7oWr1U8ie80XYT-ulXJcAgcTZaVNxe-ePhI8zrJySemnZHI_tkG2GJGYvOKG8_8UHGtJjybeZIG9XqREdq02w5qnGqN0B9dhPNAk8oorIvsAD5M/s1600/FuneralEdwardVII1910+-+sailors.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzJySNMl2FgskjDEmyiEwoCO911ahR7oWr1U8ie80XYT-ulXJcAgcTZaVNxe-ePhI8zrJySemnZHI_tkG2GJGYvOKG8_8UHGtJjybeZIG9XqREdq02w5qnGqN0B9dhPNAk8oorIvsAD5M/s1600/FuneralEdwardVII1910+-+sailors.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It is also important to remember the global reach of the British Empire in 1910 (see map below for the territories (they are coloured in red on the map) the Empire contained in 1910). When King Edward VII died he was not only the King of England and the British Dominions, he was also the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_of_India">Emperor of India</a>. The news of his death would have therefore been global news, and we must speculate whether this footage from his funeral would have made its way to the various corners of the globe. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDZls5vCgq9srKAzVpXriz0EB2sQIEeZPm4rW52O4KUyB9P77xq87Ja-S2O4_5cRjY8xfciQOVRXEqaeSfN6YG75WUybXXosCSBB3FpgSx97EsEYo55fflv-I64yD-WdEB0x1eA2R3CR4/s1600/BritishEmpireMap1910.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDZls5vCgq9srKAzVpXriz0EB2sQIEeZPm4rW52O4KUyB9P77xq87Ja-S2O4_5cRjY8xfciQOVRXEqaeSfN6YG75WUybXXosCSBB3FpgSx97EsEYo55fflv-I64yD-WdEB0x1eA2R3CR4/s320/BritishEmpireMap1910.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The first impression I gathered from watching this brief film was just how much information there is on screen to digest. Even in the lavish production of early Italian films such <a href="http://draft.blogger.com/">La Presa Di Roma</a> (1905) and <a href="http://draft.blogger.com/">Nerone</a> (1909), a fiction film had not come close to portraying the sheer number of (mostly military) people who are visible throughout this film. As the screen becomes populated almost exclusively by military figures, I could not help but shudder at this unintentional cinematic prophesy of the forthcoming century. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYplhuiRmm37uNmEPLPKJi9hfhjJnf4RxyaWwUPy3DZfqsgUubCut6xRk8a-YrIlESP5XbJlohfnoy0eq6R9hn3zILordL4viSLMbQ-dkAhDS39ryugDv0MyVyqd21qXIgddoODyl2H2M/s1600/FuneralEdwardVII1910+-+horses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYplhuiRmm37uNmEPLPKJi9hfhjJnf4RxyaWwUPy3DZfqsgUubCut6xRk8a-YrIlESP5XbJlohfnoy0eq6R9hn3zILordL4viSLMbQ-dkAhDS39ryugDv0MyVyqd21qXIgddoODyl2H2M/s1600/FuneralEdwardVII1910+-+horses.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The lavish opulence of the ceremony interweaves with its militaristic uniformity. Whereas the contemporary audience would have been immersed in national mourning, I could not help thinking of the forthcoming war – the relentless march of the various military men reminded of the historian A.J.P. Taylor’s ‘<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._J._P._Taylor">timetable theory</a>’:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></span></div><blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In his 1969 book</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">War by Timetable</span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">, Taylor examined the origins of World War I. He concluded that though all of the great powers wished to increase their own power relative to the others, none consciously sought war before 1914. Instead, he argued that all of the great powers believed that if they possessed the ability to mobilise their armed forces faster than any of the others, this would serve as a sufficient deterrent to avoid war and allow them to achieve their foreign policy. Thus, the general staffs of the great powers developed elaborate timetables to mobilise faster than any of their rivals. When the crisis broke in 1914, though none of the statesmen of Europe wanted a world war, the need to mobilise faster than potential rivals created an inexorable movement towards war. Thus Taylor claimed that the leaders of 1914 became prisoners of the logic of the mobilisation timetables and the timetables that were meant to serve as deterrent to war instead relentlessly brought war.</span></span></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Q9Vq3TNurzxk28DK3uXezzcHgfseoqMVFZREbFInJu4XJz6d1fMId3g5I7Hdvcn9y1lEM4aQkQ-81xuAbKj8iQhbbl76VTB9az33fFL1eKz5X5IME0XjGOXQR_5VTJ4eqYkpYBP7WeE/s1600/FuneralEdwardVII1910+-+troops.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Q9Vq3TNurzxk28DK3uXezzcHgfseoqMVFZREbFInJu4XJz6d1fMId3g5I7Hdvcn9y1lEM4aQkQ-81xuAbKj8iQhbbl76VTB9az33fFL1eKz5X5IME0XjGOXQR_5VTJ4eqYkpYBP7WeE/s1600/FuneralEdwardVII1910+-+troops.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In my over imaginative mind, as the troops march off screen they are walking towards the trenches of the Somme and Champagne. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1PvOnfFz0YQBYwtpv5uGkN4duydEIMx9RJcJkhU9Qn91ZDWbfCO7csKp8E1K_YgTXqO-tRaDF_f5NLrIC2UnfUhFgbKVsmGhGHkLg3J1Zqntcx5VZ9NgZw1WHikd9GAPY-f-nP4AETPI/s1600/FuneralEdwardVII1910+-+chapel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1PvOnfFz0YQBYwtpv5uGkN4duydEIMx9RJcJkhU9Qn91ZDWbfCO7csKp8E1K_YgTXqO-tRaDF_f5NLrIC2UnfUhFgbKVsmGhGHkLg3J1Zqntcx5VZ9NgZw1WHikd9GAPY-f-nP4AETPI/s320/FuneralEdwardVII1910+-+chapel.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-73583149443420272212010-09-18T20:32:00.000+01:002010-09-18T20:32:46.462+01:00A most unusual film - 1910 - The Acrobatic Fly<object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8hlocZhNc0M?fs=1&hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8hlocZhNc0M?fs=1&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">The Acrobatic Fly is one of the more peculiar films I have encountered. Although it only lasts for three minutes, it is a film that has consistently perplexed me for the last week.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">On its surface, The Acrobatic Fly is a simple trick film involving a housefly that balances various objects on its body. However, it appears that the ingenuity of the film is that there is no trickery involved (it is a real housefly balancing the various objects); although one wonders how Percy Stow managed to ‘convince’ the housefly to perform the various tricks it pulls off. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit-1Kdw7_RCTpTVg7noaJ5CUWBfmS5l4hfcosxhgTuA2b9SgO7z3xIqJFUFsxApZ5aWy1iTraKHpPTmwxEFHWIXUmDY_6PVgRqTLXoUfM1CdwuvGaHEDbjjxrBE-WsM7ubcLXRhg9Co7E/s1600/The+Acrobatic+Fly+-+1910+-+balance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit-1Kdw7_RCTpTVg7noaJ5CUWBfmS5l4hfcosxhgTuA2b9SgO7z3xIqJFUFsxApZ5aWy1iTraKHpPTmwxEFHWIXUmDY_6PVgRqTLXoUfM1CdwuvGaHEDbjjxrBE-WsM7ubcLXRhg9Co7E/s1600/The+Acrobatic+Fly+-+1910+-+balance.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">As the film begins, the viewer’s initial reaction is to delight at the gimmick of a fly lying on its back, juggling what appears to be a blade of grass. As the first few objects change, even 100 years later, the sense of novelty is tempered by an impression of disposability. It seems as though the film will be like many a gimmicky Youtube video that fascinates for a few seconds before drifting to the most distant backwaters of our memories.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">But as the film transitions from the fly spinning a web around a plastic white cup to a fly lying at a different angle juggling a smaller fly, the film becomes both grotesque and deeply fascinating. The lighting of the initial shot allows us to see the fly’s transparent wings as well as suggesting its body is comprised of several colours. As the lighting and positioning of the fly shifts for the first time, the uniform blackness of both flies is accentuated. A few shots later, the two large flies weave a large black ball that the larger fly struggled to balance him/herself (see image below), and the allegorical nature of these images deepens.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhb_tBz9Vf0pMx9W6yPkt0oxatILGvJCfgjp09T_ok4yxLdnQvEK_YxRQpiOPF5zJmQIvRRn-NOqmHycf2Ue4kFYafd3z5LzOnCef1eb18at_kdDZazr0wH-vwbEOBmcyBB9ol0Ot8OJ8/s1600/The+Acrobatic+Fly+-+1910+-+two+flies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhb_tBz9Vf0pMx9W6yPkt0oxatILGvJCfgjp09T_ok4yxLdnQvEK_YxRQpiOPF5zJmQIvRRn-NOqmHycf2Ue4kFYafd3z5LzOnCef1eb18at_kdDZazr0wH-vwbEOBmcyBB9ol0Ot8OJ8/s1600/The+Acrobatic+Fly+-+1910+-+two+flies.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">It is a fruitless exercise speculating whether this was the directors’ intention, but there is no denying the effect this transition has a potent effect on the viewer; whereas before, the fly’s repugnant exterior was offset by how it was lit and the action it was partaking in, now its repulsiveness is accentuated by the fact that it is balancing another fly. Involuntarily, it is an image that has resonated and replayed in my mind for the last few days, as I could not shake the unerring feeling that this symbolism had significant depth and may in fact function as mirror for its audience. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Unable to word this scene’s effect on my mind, the best inclination I can give my reader of this sense of apprehension is to say that I feel there is a significant overlap between this scene in the film and the following short story by Borges (which can be found in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Collected-Fictions-Jorge-Luis-Borges/dp/0140286802/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1284837985&sr=8-1-fkmr0#reader_0140286802">this collection</a>):</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><blockquote><u>Inferno, I, 3</u></blockquote><blockquote>From the half-light of dawn to the half-light of evening, the eyes of a leopard, in the last few years of the twelfth century, looked upon a few wooden boards, some vertical iron bars, some varying men and women, a blank wall, and perhaps a stone gutter littered with dry leaves. The leopard did not know, could not know, that it yearned for love and cruelty and the hot pleasure of tearing flesh and a breeze with the scent of deer, but something inside it was suffocating and howling in rebellion, and God spoke to it in a dream: You shall live and die in this prison, so that a man that I have knowledge of may see you a certain number of times and never forget you and put your figure and symbol in a poem, which has its exact place in the weft of the universe. You suffer captivity, but you shall have given a word to the poem. In the dream, God illuminated the animal’s rude understanding and the animal grasped the reasons and accepted its fate, but when it awoke there was only an obscure resignation in it, a powerful ignorance, because the machine of the world is exceedingly complex for the simplicity of a savage beast.</blockquote><blockquote>Years later, Dante was to die in Ravenna, as unjustified and alone as any other man. God told him the secret purpose of his life and work; Dante, astonished, learnt at last who he was and what he was, and he blessed the bitterness of his life. Legend has it that when he awoke, he sensed that he had received and lost an infinite thing, something he would never be able to recover, or even to descry from afar, because the machine of the world is exceedingly complex for the simplicity of men. </blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-71075605795977144132010-09-14T11:00:00.001+01:002010-09-14T11:03:27.427+01:001910 - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - Otis Turner<object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/F1MMaXcEI98?fs=1&hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/F1MMaXcEI98?fs=1&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">The early silent film era (which I would classify as running from 1895-1914) is a grossly neglected era of filmmaking. As this blog has pointed out on a numerous occasions, not only were some of film’s most important technical advances made during these years, but many of the film’s are of outstanding quality and remain relevant to the modern audience. However, as with any era, there are bound to be some poorly made films.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicugOrOQbOJxLl5jDEus406qvVj9athg3ey7c31Ava_CKp_3oVh94ogMKAAWS6yugx7iPbqnr127O07XArXkTbXq-JS1tKlkHWE7q7i3MbsrKq1ujvKo-YmIF64S_3AvmKHlPx7Xnczu8/s1600/The+Wonderful+Wizard+of+Oz+-+1910+-+Scarecrow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicugOrOQbOJxLl5jDEus406qvVj9athg3ey7c31Ava_CKp_3oVh94ogMKAAWS6yugx7iPbqnr127O07XArXkTbXq-JS1tKlkHWE7q7i3MbsrKq1ujvKo-YmIF64S_3AvmKHlPx7Xnczu8/s1600/The+Wonderful+Wizard+of+Oz+-+1910+-+Scarecrow.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The first surviving cinematic adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel is perhaps the weakest film that we have observed on the Film: Ab Initio list so far. Given the great strides that filmmaking has made in 1909 and 1910, with films shifting from novel ‘trick’ films to tackling more complex and ambitious stories, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz looks and feels as though the film is at least five years older. Even if a better print of this was available, it would still look slightly primitive.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In fact, one of the main set pieces of the film, the wizard’ court, looks quite similar to the astronomer’s room in Melies’ 1902 film <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/05/films-first-cinemagician-magic-of.html">La Voyage Dans La Lune.</a> Rather than paying homage to the earlier film, this scene only highlights how outdated this film seems. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBYFIGNEp6RA_zm3D3ZP94Vi8L1w4wL_pUYqg0P5zUj0CJnGnb5DEfJguWkEhpV28uqyP6l1tQIIsBCTfdBwFc27NRifBtX_B9B-hvy_et6LHQiQK2qdDgg7Lz3Htsg7OG2rjyAnEJRW4/s1600/The+Wonderful+Wizard+of+Oz+-+1910+-+Melies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBYFIGNEp6RA_zm3D3ZP94Vi8L1w4wL_pUYqg0P5zUj0CJnGnb5DEfJguWkEhpV28uqyP6l1tQIIsBCTfdBwFc27NRifBtX_B9B-hvy_et6LHQiQK2qdDgg7Lz3Htsg7OG2rjyAnEJRW4/s1600/The+Wonderful+Wizard+of+Oz+-+1910+-+Melies.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"> <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910)</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><br />
</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPzB_DCqEj_XH-VvhHVXqxwzb36Nu2HlSliivUQkasGiSfe649CBo7pvIwjsN5jg1g82XPSh9ZTwx-C93U6WLzWIid6HyhsnsM7I7TdH0EcmP09_DRwvxmZbofufnp79yOAlKYfvOrQ4Q/s1600/Melies+-+Le+Voyage+dans+la+Lune+-+0022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPzB_DCqEj_XH-VvhHVXqxwzb36Nu2HlSliivUQkasGiSfe649CBo7pvIwjsN5jg1g82XPSh9ZTwx-C93U6WLzWIid6HyhsnsM7I7TdH0EcmP09_DRwvxmZbofufnp79yOAlKYfvOrQ4Q/s320/Melies+-+Le+Voyage+dans+la+Lune+-+0022.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i> La Voyage Dans La Lune (1902)</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">And although the film manages to incorporate a number of impressive sets, the overtly simple cinematography makes the film seem theatrical rather than cinematic. Given some of the brilliant camerawork that we have seen in films such as <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/09/films-first-sex-symbol-afgrunden-woman.html">Afgrunden </a>and <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/08/films-first-fairytale-1909-fairy-of.html">La fée des grèves</a>, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz cannot claim that such techniques were not possible in 1910.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghyphenhyphenp1NHdq0H_AukNIA_tvSNSL7jOBQZqzoBskkHTsVSiUInMkPguS-jEQIYAIO43UZOpbcAlTk5Hsa3OVTLonJqWMtG13HOI-oXi_8756hnOAB2Dd95fCxAaV2GCJC7qENaw5QXYtykPE/s1600/The+Wonderful+Wizard+of+Oz+-+1910+-+Witch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghyphenhyphenp1NHdq0H_AukNIA_tvSNSL7jOBQZqzoBskkHTsVSiUInMkPguS-jEQIYAIO43UZOpbcAlTk5Hsa3OVTLonJqWMtG13HOI-oXi_8756hnOAB2Dd95fCxAaV2GCJC7qENaw5QXYtykPE/s1600/The+Wonderful+Wizard+of+Oz+-+1910+-+Witch.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">Yet there does appear to be a significant gap between the quality of the films being produced in Europe and the U.S.A. in 1910. As was mentioned in a previous post, it is important to remember that up until 1914, France was the dominant force in global filmmaking. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The 1910 version of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz was loosely based on a popular 1903 stage musical adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s novel. This is why several sections of the film involved choreographed dancing; however, much of the dancing onscreen seems amateurish and unnecessarily acrobatic. As with the musical, a new character is added to the cast, Imogene the cow. In the musical Imogene replaces Toto, in the film though, they both make an appearance.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The one scene which stands out in this film is where the characters are not the focal point of a scene; it is when a cyclone hits Kansas and transports Dorothy to Oz. The rolling clouds steal the scene, and for a brief moment, the film’s set does not feel clustered or claustrophobic. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM6O5Oz48rqSbmWqpw2AS0ESgJKntDftCYTlsYTtstXH3nApL8YmH60uZ3lBO-i9rN_u_WpDvxllipckC_9wH_2JgYFJrwILIJhhLkLdb1gRoi4AyS94UPDyp9-sXRdPpZCCvd4qIkNSc/s1600/The+Wonderful+Wizard+of+Oz+-+1910+-+Cyclone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM6O5Oz48rqSbmWqpw2AS0ESgJKntDftCYTlsYTtstXH3nApL8YmH60uZ3lBO-i9rN_u_WpDvxllipckC_9wH_2JgYFJrwILIJhhLkLdb1gRoi4AyS94UPDyp9-sXRdPpZCCvd4qIkNSc/s1600/The+Wonderful+Wizard+of+Oz+-+1910+-+Cyclone.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this film is the speed with which it manages cover a great degree of the novel’s plotting. As with the earlier literary adaptations of Alice in Wonderland and Ben Hur, this film adopts an episodic approach to its source material in order to allow the film to focus on several key scenes from the text. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I have not mentioned the film’s plotting or any character in any detail, because neither stood out. The 1910 version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a messy piece of film making which seems out of place when compared to the other films we have looked at from the previous few years. <o:p></o:p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-13512846784983955292010-09-09T20:21:00.000+01:002010-09-09T20:21:00.543+01:001910 - An Animated Masterpiece - The Hasher's Delirium - Emile Cohl<object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/DfOmxAtI00Q?fs=1&hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/DfOmxAtI00Q?fs=1&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">The most surprising aspect of early animation is how wildly inventive and playful it can be; both qualities can be found in abundance in the pioneering work of Emile Cohl. As with his first film <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/07/first-fully-animated-film-1908.html">Fantasmagorie</a>, the main image in The Hasher’s Delirium undertakes a series of transformations. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Unlike his first film, however, there is an image onscreen which remains constant for the majority of the film: an inebriated man. The large white bubble in the middle of the screen represents his drunken thought dreams. As the images within the bubble become more disturbing, the bubble disappears and the man’s body takes centre stage as his body bends like Mr. Fantastic and he kicks himself on his own behind. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXrv6c2nTgpXiRAd-FbOGmc44bcpqLCifknXoVPY1_5tfn8jmUQUzu2sUgVOKMngYKgQNNnYuPQjPQu-M703ZPqgsphCV1OWdsk6A0Dp_JDwk11ECw7wt5YYgJetsf_oA7VPRw8hru9eo/s1600/The+Hasher's+Delirium+-+1910+-+eyes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXrv6c2nTgpXiRAd-FbOGmc44bcpqLCifknXoVPY1_5tfn8jmUQUzu2sUgVOKMngYKgQNNnYuPQjPQu-M703ZPqgsphCV1OWdsk6A0Dp_JDwk11ECw7wt5YYgJetsf_oA7VPRw8hru9eo/s1600/The+Hasher's+Delirium+-+1910+-+eyes.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">By focusing on the inebriated man’s ‘delirium’, Cohl is able to focus his transformations on a specific but broad theme. Furthermore, by experimenting with the effects of alcohol (the words ‘wine’ and ‘absinthe’ both appear within the white bubble) and showing the audience several images which are meant to provoke fear within the inebriated man, Cohl is touching on certain elemental fears which will be exploited routinely in the great horror films of the forthcoming decade. And by having an ‘everyman’ onscreen, Cohl is ensuring that this figure serves as a symbol for our own drunken fears.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The Hasher’s Delirium is not the first film to deal with issues of chemical excess; similar issues were dealt with in the 1906 live action film <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/07/1906-dream-of-rarebit-fiend-edwin-s.html">Dream of a Rarebit Fiend</a>. Film’s interest in exploring this subject matter is unsurprising. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIW5Glu1COrP9ML0op8qzfKZu0uLf69HqCF13OQZj7wdR_UFh88BaiPzi1TB-6YytFKJNIq-EsXgDQlCezA80VZ857NF4C5wkoVL2TZ2DOOMDKleLAp493P6oAoNzIR6bt1cMQy0Du4RE/s1600/The+Hasher's+Delirium+-+1910+-+scary+face.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIW5Glu1COrP9ML0op8qzfKZu0uLf69HqCF13OQZj7wdR_UFh88BaiPzi1TB-6YytFKJNIq-EsXgDQlCezA80VZ857NF4C5wkoVL2TZ2DOOMDKleLAp493P6oAoNzIR6bt1cMQy0Du4RE/s1600/The+Hasher's+Delirium+-+1910+-+scary+face.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">The hallucinatory effects of such activities is a strange blend of what we visualise, think and dream. In Dream of a Rarebit Fiend, this allows Edwin S. Porter to apply Méliès- esque visual trickery to a ‘normal’ scenario (i.e. a man walking home after eating and drinking too much). However, even with modern day films, there are limitations to the rapidity of this particular thought process being examined in a live action film. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In an animated film like The Hasher’s Delirium there is no such problem, and the constant shape-shifting of a man’s ‘delirium’ can be explored with more accuracy. And when the bubble disappears and the inebriated man’s body starts to bend, Cohl manages to capture the moment at which the man’s drunken imagination consumes any semblance of his rational mind and takes complete control of his senses. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The film has a hypnotic effect on its viewer, as each image transforms seamlessly and at breathtaking pace. As with Fantasmagorie, I found myself watching the film several times to fully digest the range of images that the film presents in less than ninety seconds.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The film has also aged remarkably well, it is the perfect film to introduce your friends to this period of film. Its breadth of imagination and dark humour make it a remarkably modern film.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ipMcnvX4nkKZniHAYNGEdxTUlEiXnebRJTK_Ca1LLwJbPDO0KcUmA2Par51bDx3GCx-yHQ0JjOAgH3xThQAf4r55mndRIpDyBMBLxBNOhh9I28QH1Amu8GFOAbTziw-2W039Kj3TtDc/s1600/The+Hasher's+Delirium+-+1910+-+face+without+one+eye.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ipMcnvX4nkKZniHAYNGEdxTUlEiXnebRJTK_Ca1LLwJbPDO0KcUmA2Par51bDx3GCx-yHQ0JjOAgH3xThQAf4r55mndRIpDyBMBLxBNOhh9I28QH1Amu8GFOAbTziw-2W039Kj3TtDc/s1600/The+Hasher's+Delirium+-+1910+-+face+without+one+eye.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-38974880591073815042010-09-06T18:26:00.001+01:002010-09-06T18:27:57.633+01:001910 - Film's first sex symbol - Afgrunden (The Woman Always Pays) - Urban Gad<object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/e2X8Fb-r05s?fs=1&hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/e2X8Fb-r05s?fs=1&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Silent film’s greatest strength is the universal language of the visual image. When this is combined with the fact that a global economic framework was beginning to develop and thrive for a brief few years before the calamitous events of 1914, the rapidity of the developing artistic maturity of the medium of film on a global scale becomes more comprehensible.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In 1909, we saw film’s from Italy, France and the USA begin to harness the dramatic consciousness of film. Yet only a year later, a Danish film called Afgrunden becomes the first film to flourish and exponentially expand this dramatic consciousness (please click on the video above to watch the other three parts of the film on Youtube). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Afgrunden explores and dissects the themes of desire and female sexuality. The film concerns a young piano teacher (Magda) who goes to meet her fiancé and her parents. When she goes to visit a circus with her fiancé, she is drawn to an artist working there and runs away with him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">At more than twice the running time of any film we have watched so far on the Film: Ab Initio list (the film’s running time is just under forty minutes), the ability to interrogate a broader range of ideas is expected. But the subtlety of action and complexity of emotions conveyed marks a quantum leap from anything we have witnessed so far.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKklGyKW-_EqsaEt8qhziuwUlCmzmQX5Idkarl6wnfucLsDBt4ztHQPSjCdL_oG7Cyk8YPijwm1h36D3Y53DVBICDjHl3tpfe5n2oSwWAhYui0Edol3uYWvw-ATDT4LupxK8l1YL-uPvw/s1600/Afgrunden-+1910+-+piano+teacher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKklGyKW-_EqsaEt8qhziuwUlCmzmQX5Idkarl6wnfucLsDBt4ztHQPSjCdL_oG7Cyk8YPijwm1h36D3Y53DVBICDjHl3tpfe5n2oSwWAhYui0Edol3uYWvw-ATDT4LupxK8l1YL-uPvw/s1600/Afgrunden-+1910+-+piano+teacher.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The first five minutes of the film serves as a tribute to the Lumiere Brothers. The opening shot of the film, where Magda walks towards the tram, is reminiscent of an early Lumiere actuality film. And the scene where her train arrives at her fiance’s train station is almost identical to the Lumiere masterpiece, ‘Arrivee d'un train en gare a La Ciotat’. This homage serves the film well, as it is exquisitely shot. The growing confidence of director’s in selecting certain angles and unique ways of transitioning between scenes is a delight to see.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">From the opening moments of the film, where Magda climbs onto a tram and meets her fiancé for the first time, it becomes clear that silent film may in fact be a more effective medium for exploring ideas about relationships and desires than talkies are. An overemphasis on body language and the removal of any verbal language heightens the visceral nature of the lovers’ bond. The deliberately misplaced glances and awkward physical movement of the two characters possesses a delicious ambiguity that would not be allowed to exist if the two characters could converse with one another. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ff0MiaITudCpaKQ7SE6OCu6Wtc5n5N3ORCgAJrvKV44eILMOyx5zJW5Oz4YeUcvfAI6Ae_McYuwAbtTyX7jW-XGGZkqf7M8AmP_m7UNwqA8Kc9rka638HqPbE5wwISZz2hJ26uTPl5A/s1600/Afgrunden-+1910+-+stabbing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ff0MiaITudCpaKQ7SE6OCu6Wtc5n5N3ORCgAJrvKV44eILMOyx5zJW5Oz4YeUcvfAI6Ae_McYuwAbtTyX7jW-XGGZkqf7M8AmP_m7UNwqA8Kc9rka638HqPbE5wwISZz2hJ26uTPl5A/s1600/Afgrunden-+1910+-+stabbing.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Later in the film, Magda’s fiancé attempts to persuade her join him and his parents on a walk. As she refuses and watches them walk away, the screen is engulfed with the void of loneliness. For now this sense of despair is silent, but as the film continues, this despair will be expressed in a far more physical manner.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Therefore, the film can divided in to three acts, with each act culminating in Magda’s reaction to a certain situation. If gazing onwards at her fiancé and his parents was her reaction at the end of the first act, at the end of the second act she attacks a girl on stage when she believes that her lover is making amorous glances towards that girl. And finally, when her lover tears her dress and physically confronts her after she is caught talking to her ex-fiancé, she stabs and murders him. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">On each occasion, Magda refuses to either conform to or accept society’s pre-ordained role for her. Furthermore, the violent intensity of her indomitable spirit increases on each occasion. Magda repels each cage she is placed in: first the country house, then the circus until the film ends with her being led away by policeman to prison. It is important to note that in 1910, Danish women would not receive universal suffrage for another five years. Magda’s irrepressible nature must surely have resonated with its contemporary audience, and the film’s English title ‘The Woman Always Pays’, is misleading. Despite the majority of the film involving her affections oscillating between the two male leads, she ends up with neither party. And although we have to assume she will spend the rest of her life in prison, it is the heavy price she ends up paying for her independence. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Magda is quite comfortably the most complex and intriguing character we have encountered to date, and this is largely due to the fact that she is played by the magnificent Asta Nielsen – film’s first siren and sex symbol. During the first half of this decade, only Max Linder would rival her in terms of popularity. The excellent <a href="http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/16/asta.html">Bright Lights Film Journal</a> highlights the scope of her influence as well as discussing her role in Afgrunden:</span></div><blockquote>Some of the most memorable images from films of the 1930s are based on the idea of strong women who resist, even dissolve, gender boundaries: <a href="http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/27/precodegallery.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Dietrich</span></a>, dressed in a man's suit, offering a rare <a href="http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/movies/lgbtQueer.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">lesbian</span></a> kiss in Blonde Venus; Hepburn convincing us she's a boy in Sylvia Scarlett; Garbo as a mannish ruler, staring into the camera at the end of Queen Christina. If audiences were not entirely unprepared for such imagery, it was probably because of another star with a single name who was doing the same thing more than two decades earlier. This is not mere speculation; Garbo herself acknowledged the woman who co-starred with her in The Joyless Street, saying "she taught me everything I know."...</blockquote><blockquote>Afgrunden was important in establishing from the beginning key components of her legend: scandalous eroticism and a uniquely minimalist acting style... In a startling sequence of sexual intensity, she lassos her boyfriend and does a lewd dance, bumping and grinding against him. This vulgar "gaucho-dance" was what most viewers remembered, but critics of the time also applauded Asta's naturalistic acting, unknown in a <a href="http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/movies/silents.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">silent cinema</span></a> noted for its wild theatrical gesturing and overwrought grimacing. In her autobiography, the actress commented on this: "I realized that one had to detach oneself completely from one's surroundings in order to be able to perform an important scene in a dramatic film. The opportunity to develop character and mood gradually, something denied the film actor, can only be replaced by a kind of 'auto-suggestion." Throughout her career she used this trance state at key moments to force the viewer to respond imaginatively to what was happening — an effect that, combined with her masklike face and minimal gestures, gives the strange feeling of watching a present-day actress who has dropped suddenly into silent movies.</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji3XphbZwGLu1IGfpWjNOrVeJlQ0EyvacMEBzl75Vm4M0xL7cmiNHI5T4aOXB4RBclZAVx47hrWdX0JUx1acQSspLJSJI6Wr4QS8VGfXex0RwWKUC8KwfDJ9dvV9IJVsdSKAJxhuhFsLQ/s1600/Afgrunden-+1910+-+passionate+kiss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji3XphbZwGLu1IGfpWjNOrVeJlQ0EyvacMEBzl75Vm4M0xL7cmiNHI5T4aOXB4RBclZAVx47hrWdX0JUx1acQSspLJSJI6Wr4QS8VGfXex0RwWKUC8KwfDJ9dvV9IJVsdSKAJxhuhFsLQ/s1600/Afgrunden-+1910+-+passionate+kiss.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Much has been made of her ‘lewd dance’, but there is a moment of equally daring eroticism earlier in the film, where the artist breaks into her bedroom. After appearing to reject his advances, they then share a passionate kiss (see image above). It is a moment of forbidden passion where the viewer very much plays the part of the voyeur. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Although it is not as risqué as the latter dance is, it is equally dazzling. Sensuality and desire are deconstructed and stripped bare in a manner that is unique to film. There is nothing suggestive or over-pronounced about such a moment, the carnal desire on display is electrifying.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Interestingly, Nielsen’s ‘lewd dance’ </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">(see image below)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;"> was cut from both the British and American films, in what must have been one of the earliest examples of censorship in the film industry. But it would be a great shame for such a brilliant film to be remembered only for its most erotically charged moment. However, there is no denying that this dance is the most important moment of the film. Through the medium of dance, Magda is finally able to unleash her sensuality in a manner independent of either man. The potent symbolism of her lassoing her lover is undeniable.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDGPirWn4_V6KuqNiiFzbqFAHAIRD8Ribe-B_uNkEa0RIBWnXUpcJX9aBm_NPAmlK03dVbAiy2lvyfXjP0Argv5H87oE2zcHJuidsyW7sg6s4097_PV3p8gj0wRX4AkmuIWRh7HAKmWTk/s1600/Afgrunden-+1910+-+erotic+dance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDGPirWn4_V6KuqNiiFzbqFAHAIRD8Ribe-B_uNkEa0RIBWnXUpcJX9aBm_NPAmlK03dVbAiy2lvyfXjP0Argv5H87oE2zcHJuidsyW7sg6s4097_PV3p8gj0wRX4AkmuIWRh7HAKmWTk/s1600/Afgrunden-+1910+-+erotic+dance.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The highest praise I can bestow on Afgrunden is that I can think of few films from any era that deal with its subject matter as well as it does. What a fantastic way to kick off a seminal decade in film history. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-91167191945042166042010-08-29T22:29:00.000+01:002010-08-29T22:29:15.889+01:00The Top 10 Films of the 1900's<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfWAuCTrnde6EIJGgeod3DcyaScF3HDCudyVjh_kqmlM7UC193pIdy8VHLA0Qa55Vxlx8crgLkCtNYjyBXPyOj0JAYM7ZscpNiUAuz0mcCxBP8cVoxwClZ9TAaug4dOWRcHwXiOMvyW8o/s1600/The+Story+of+the+Kelly+Gang+-+Suicide+Pact.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfWAuCTrnde6EIJGgeod3DcyaScF3HDCudyVjh_kqmlM7UC193pIdy8VHLA0Qa55Vxlx8crgLkCtNYjyBXPyOj0JAYM7ZscpNiUAuz0mcCxBP8cVoxwClZ9TAaug4dOWRcHwXiOMvyW8o/s320/The+Story+of+the+Kelly+Gang+-+Suicide+Pact.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Film’s first full decade was remarkable by any art form’s standards. The one common thread that the thematic kaleidoscope these films share is that they all value exploring new ideas and uncharted artistic territory as much as they did narrative and form. It rivals any decade in film’s history for innovation and unbridled creativity.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLx0WIAlX-yjcc_i8tVPn8xSKIArL45i0KyqDAjYdPgj3XOQDWn7QvfvAYwQmXUArlFTfxRUHMihyphenhyphensL-dCaWYOuLgcKYc0TJsAbdMMEXO-e4pXNqO9-uRvPDrrRpM0EOOJxMoiatUieOg/s1600/Humorous+Phases+Of+FunnyFaces+-+Blowing+Air.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLx0WIAlX-yjcc_i8tVPn8xSKIArL45i0KyqDAjYdPgj3XOQDWn7QvfvAYwQmXUArlFTfxRUHMihyphenhyphensL-dCaWYOuLgcKYc0TJsAbdMMEXO-e4pXNqO9-uRvPDrrRpM0EOOJxMoiatUieOg/s1600/Humorous+Phases+Of+FunnyFaces+-+Blowing+Air.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">For example, the constraints of time (no film on our list runs over eighteen minutes) meant that limitation did indeed breed innovation; this, coupled with the rapidly expanding technology of film itself, meant that film was a fertile breeding ground for a plethora of ideas and genres.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The century began with actuality films and trick films as the two most popular genres. By the end of the decade, these genres popularity’s faded away, as genres such as prestige films (i.e. adapting a Shakespeare or Dickens text), tragedies and romantic comedies began to captivate their audience.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The following list was quite difficult to compile as the decade contains a number of films which deserve greater attention and acclaim (and given that the list has been limited to the films I could find on Youtube and the Silent Shakespeare DVD, I am sure that there are a number of other excellent films form this decade that also deserve to be discussed). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Surprisingly, the two most famous films of the decade, Le Voyage dans la Lune (The Voyage to the Moon) (1902) and The Great Train Robbery (1903) do not make it on to the following list. This decision was not made to raise controversy. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Instead of stating that the films’ technical innovations were the most important criteria for judging the following films, the major criterion in judging these films was the same as would be applied to a film released today: how enjoyable was the film, what interesting ideas/concepts did it tackle, etc. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">This in turn makes the films more relevant and more accessible to audiences, as every film on this list makes for compelling viewing, regardless of their historic background. I do not believe that these films only exist to be watched by silent film fans. And thanks to Youtube, these films now have a far greater audience than they have had since they were released over a hundred years ago. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Given the nature of this blog and the chronological approach it is taking towards viewing film, I feel like it would be cheating if I gave any retrospective thoughts on any of the films in isolation. Therefore, under each film you fill find excerpts from the articles I wrote on that particular film (the titles of each film all have hyperlinks which will take you to the main article on each films), as well as the thoughts that certain readers have left in regards to that particular film. As I have said elsewhere, the aim of this blog is not to merely to convey my thoughts, but to start a conversation in regards to these early films. So on that note, please leave your own Top Ten films of the decade in the comments section below.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
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</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">10. <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/08/1909-corner-in-wheat-dw-griffith.html">Corner in Wheat – 1909 – D.W. Griffith</a></span></b></div><blockquote>Corner in Wheat is the first film on the Film: Ab Initio list to tackle a contemporary political issue on film.</blockquote><blockquote>The film portrays three different elements of the corn industry: the growers, the speculators and the eventual buyers of wheat. The ease with which Griffith moves between the three different worlds is impressive. In particular, he makes the most of the technique first seen in The Great Train Robbery, crosscutting. This allows him to juxtapose the plight of the working men struggling to afford the bread with the lavish opulence of the successful speculator who attends a dinner with his society friend</blockquote><blockquote>Rob: <span class="apple-style-span">The film as a whole (unlike Milton's superbly tragic verbal characterisation of Satan, say) operates in a purely visual way - the opening juxtaposing the dignified vertical plough lines of the farmers with the buzzing shirt cuffs of the owners; the second sequence mirroring left/right two tables: opulent feast and barren bread. This makes the choice of such a visual 'downfall' perfect, and brilliantly symbolic.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p><object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/DOxZa7s4Dv4?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/DOxZa7s4Dv4?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object> </o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">9.<a href="http://draft.blogger.com/goog_1661533606"> </a><b><a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/06/1905-panorama-from-times-building-new.html">Panorama from Times Building, New York – 1905</a></b></span></div><blockquote>It is not an over-exaggeration to state that Panorama from the Times Building, New York provides the audience with a new way of seeing. Panorama is similar to some of the Lumiere Brothers’ ‘actualities’, except that it provides us with a breathtaking view of New York from the top of the Times Building. Within the space of a decade, film has gone from a still shot of workers outside the Lumiere Brothers’ factory to a daring aerial shot of a substantial part of New York. </blockquote><blockquote>Christian Hayes: <span class="apple-style-span">Writers online don't write often about non-fiction but it's a major part of silent film production, there is so much of it, and this is a great example. There is something about the design of New York, the rigid shapes of the buildings, the layers of corners in the background and foreground, and the puncture-holes of windows that dot every building - that is endlessly fascinating, and it's in this period that modern New York we know was born.</span></blockquote><object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6VSK4uCylGM?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6VSK4uCylGM?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">8. <b><a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/08/first-cinematic-roman-tragedy-1909.html">Nerone – 1909 – Luigi Maggi</a></b></span></div><blockquote>The tone of Nerone is different to any film that we have observed so far, it is the first tragedy that we have encountered...</blockquote><blockquote>The most imaginative moment of the film comes towards the denouement of the film, as we see Nero lying on a chair, with his imaginative thoughts unfolding in the background; a pastoral scene gives way to what appears to be Rome on fire, causing Nero to collapse in fear of his own thoughts.</blockquote><blockquote>It is as powerful a scene as we have witnessed in any film so far, and makes great use of the medium of film to explore the apocalyptic visions the film’s protagonist. </blockquote><object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/awOFDc5vyVo?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/awOFDc5vyVo?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">7. <b><a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/07/1906-dream-of-rarebit-fiend-edwin-s.html">Dream of a rarebit fiend – 1906 – Edwin S. Porter</a></b></span></div><blockquote>There is a lot more to Edwin S. Porter’s oeuvre than just The Great Train Robbery. Dream of a Rarebit Fiend may well have been another forerunner for the surrealist movement.</blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"></div><blockquote><span class="apple-style-span">In the latter moments of the film, such as where the protagonist’ bed is flying through the city, it is clear that the protagonist is dreaming. But at the moment where he approaches the lamppost, the two worlds amalgamate with one another, and it is at this moment that the initial defamiliarisation occurs. This is also the film’s most exhilarating moment. The energy of the protagonist combines with the dizzying whirling of his surroundings to draw the audience into his drunken revelry and subsequent dreaming.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></blockquote><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <div><object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ifVLPWi8ZDM?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ifVLPWi8ZDM?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object></div><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">6. <b><a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/08/first-romantic-comedy-1909-le-barometre.html">Le baromètre de la fidélité (The Fidelity barometer) – 1909 – Georges Monca</a><o:p></o:p></b></span></div><blockquote><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span">In</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">Le baromètre de la fidélité</span></span><span class="apple-style-span">, we have the great comic of this era attempting to expand on the slapstick humour he perfected in films such as</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/07/slapstick-is-born-1907-debut-dun.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Début d'un patineur</span></a>, thus allowing him to take advantage of film’s rapidly increasing length.</span></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"></div><blockquote>Rob: What a sublime opening shot. Taking up a quarter of the screen time of the entire piece with that gliding river scene suggests a deliberate artistic consciousness that was harder to spot in some of the earlier Linder films... Again, it seems that film is entering its first mini-maturity here.</blockquote><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span class="apple-style-span"><blockquote><span class="apple-style-span">The moment that camera dips under the tree branch, in particular, is stikingly ahead of its time. A similarly mobile camera still takes the viewer by surprise in Murnau's 'Sunrise', 18 years later!</span></blockquote><object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6FQCESiyqaM?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6FQCESiyqaM?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">5. <b><a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/07/first-fully-animated-film-1908.html">Fantasmagorie – 1908 – Emile Cohl</a></b></span></div><blockquote>Cohl’s film did manage to lift ‘cartoons out of the realm of trick films and started them on the path toward animated features’. In Blackton’s Humorous Phases of Funny Faces, we are presented with separate vignettes of various characters. In Fantasmagorie, there is a remarkable fluidity throughout the entire film; each scene effortlessly interweaves with the next.</blockquote><blockquote>Fantasmagorie confirms the notion which Humorous Phases of Funny Phases suggested: animation is a distinctive branch of film that differs significantly to the moving picture. The films’ rapidity and ability to shape-shift demonstrates that animated film can perform different, and on a certain level, more impressive, visual tricks that those found in Méliès’ or Porter’s films.</blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p><object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6TaxcXfSwdE?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6TaxcXfSwdE?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object> </o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">4. <b><a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/06/1906-san-francisco-earthquake-before.html">San Francisco Earthquake: Before and After Journey Down Market Street – 1906</a></b><o:p></o:p></span></div><blockquote>Living in an age of twenty four hour news media, we have become somewhat anaesthetised to the impact of the moving image (Of course I do not mean that we are not moved by terrible events such as the recent Deepwater Horizon oil spill. I simply mean that we do not fully appreciate the fact that we have access to such images) in regards to natural disasters. But before this earthquake, all we had to rely on were eyewitness accounts of such terrifying events. Film would allow such events to be captured as they were, rather than how they were experienced by a limited group of people.</blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"></div><blockquote>Rob - <span class="apple-style-span">Amazing film...</span></blockquote><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span class="apple-style-span"><blockquote>"The latter half of the post-earthquake film feels as though we are watching the first zombie film. A mass hoard of people walk by the camera and appear listless and lifeless. The moving image not only created a new art, but also managed to alter the eye of history."</blockquote></span> <span class="apple-style-span"><blockquote>That is the most haunting thing I've read on this blog.</blockquote><object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_FQwfx8e6To?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_FQwfx8e6To?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">3.<a href="http://draft.blogger.com/goog_1661533630"> </a><b><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/goog_1661533630">La fée des grèves (The </a></b></span><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/08/films-first-fairytale-1909-fairy-of.html">Fairy of the Surf) – 1909 – Louis Feuillade</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><blockquote>There are certain films that only make a notable impression on their audience after the film has concluded. They do not radiate brilliance throughout as many of the great films do, but their appreciation greatly increases when they considered in their entirety: Louis Feuillade’s The Fairy of the Surf is one of these films.</blockquote><blockquote>Another reading of the film is that it is an allegory for the battle between reality and the imagination. The Prince represents reality and the fairy represents the imagination. As the Prince captures the fairy and marries her, it appears that reality is harnessing and taking control of the imagination. Yet as the imagination has a violent reaction against reality and realises that it cannot exist on this plain so must return to her river of imagination, reality secedes its attempt to control the imagination and enters the world of the imagination. It is on this plain that the two are able to happily coexist (see image below); the allegory serves as an excellent lesson for any artist, and may also function as Feuillade’s mission statement for what will be an extremely successful decade for him.</blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"></div><blockquote>Rob: I'd have never guessed that 7 minutes of such strangeness and beauty were just sitting there on YouTube. Thanks for bringing this one ashore.</blockquote><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span class="apple-style-span"><blockquote><span class="apple-style-span">The two worlds in this film - the land castle, and the sea - are both handled with visual flair, aren't they?</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></blockquote></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"></div><blockquote>The blazing light surrounding their little boat is unnerving, too. The strange 'grain' seems almost prophetic of the Trinity test, 36 years later....</blockquote><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span class="apple-style-span"><blockquote><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFZvCJYDme0&feature=fvw"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFZvCJYDme0&feat...</span></span></a></blockquote></span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> <object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jvUf5ro8uQA?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jvUf5ro8uQA?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p><br />
</o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">2. <b><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/goog_1661533634">Le Voyage à travers l'Impossible (The Impossible Voyage) – 1904 – Georges </a><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/05/films-first-cinemagician-magic-of.html">Méliès</a></span></b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></div><blockquote>Le Voyage dans la Lune is often considered Méliès most important film; I would argue however, that Le Voyage à travers l'Impossible is of equal importance...</blockquote><blockquote>There is a sense that Le Voyage à travers l'Impossible is very much about the second wave of the Industrial Revolution and its limitations. Led by an engineer called Mabouloff (which translates as ‘Scatterbrains'), a group of travellers embark on an ‘impossible’ journey, which manages to entail a trip to the Swiss Alps as well as the sun (see above). You can draw parallels with their trip to the sun and Icarus flying too close to the sun. Perhaps Méliès is suggesting that man’s flirtation with technology will see it share Icarus’ fate.</blockquote><object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Sk1ZunbY7Xc?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Sk1ZunbY7Xc?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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<ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/06/1906-story-of-kelly-gang-charles-tait.html">The Story of the Kelly Gang – 1906 – Charles Tait</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></li>
</ol><blockquote>The climax of the film is the most thrilling we have witnessed of any film thus far; unfortunately, it also one of the most damaged sections of the film. However, the distortion of the damaged reel seems to enhance the dramatic denouement of the film. In this climactic scene, Ned Kelly makes his last stand, wearing metal armour (see picture below) to protect his face as he is finally captured by the police. The scene can be seen to symbolise the shift from a semi-anarchic, chivalrous period to the more functional, bureaucratic (and sometimes totalitarian) modus operandi of the 20<sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">th</span></sup> century. The armoured plating is an outdated, futile yet heroic method for Ned Kelly to make his last stand. His tale will endure, but the ways of the outlaw bushranger ended with him. This aspect of the film may have resonated greatly with the audience, as the film was shown around the country for close to a decade.</blockquote><blockquote>By focusing on the sections of the film that have endured, I would argue that even in its current state, The Story of The Kelly Gang is a seminal film which must be brought to the forefront of debate of the early silent era. In terms of both importance and enjoyment, it stands alongside any film we have witnessed so far.</blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"></div><blockquote>Rob: <span class="apple-style-span">Well, all hail Charles Tait!</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></blockquote><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span class="apple-style-span"><blockquote><span class="apple-style-span">This is the most impressive find I've come across on this blog so far -- a really powerful film, dating back 104 years, that I have NEVER heard mention of anywhere before.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></blockquote></span> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"></div><blockquote>The celluloid image has a unique power over reality, and I think that even the (slower) first half of these fragments are worthwhile in 2010, offering the strange sensation of a sepia Civil War photograph hobbling into life... In my opinion, there is always a case to be made for abandoning the Quest for Authenticity, and reveling in the 'weirdness' of an Inauthentic vision of the past such as this. I might even be tempted to speculate that this 15 minutes of distorted footage on YouTube is greater than the c.70 minute film that spawned it.</blockquote><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><blockquote><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-39446652796351387312010-08-25T23:32:00.001+01:002010-08-25T23:39:58.830+01:001909 - Corner in Wheat - D.W. Griffith<object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PSF7p_DAAxw?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PSF7p_DAAxw?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Corner in Wheat is an unsettlingly deceptive film. On its surface, the film appears to stake a claim for being described as Griffith’s first masterpiece (particularly during the first half of the film). The film’s greatest strength is its subject matter. Over the last two years, we have seen an increasing number of films attempt to elevate film’s cultural status by tackling ‘prestige’ genres and writers, such as tragedy and Shakespeare. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidPRYCv98D_Uw2WkQ5lYOxV5Q5nB54ep8it_yOQPeDho3LJJzIM2qmNz2E8-omnhR9-le8rxgDNL_LBQNhRX1KJlHMx0QTKAilHICWCApBYCGggXVIBi8Eb-4Zrhg9f4_uJ9A3sooBHR4/s1600/Corner+in+Wheat+-+Farm+Work.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidPRYCv98D_Uw2WkQ5lYOxV5Q5nB54ep8it_yOQPeDho3LJJzIM2qmNz2E8-omnhR9-le8rxgDNL_LBQNhRX1KJlHMx0QTKAilHICWCApBYCGggXVIBi8Eb-4Zrhg9f4_uJ9A3sooBHR4/s320/Corner+in+Wheat+-+Farm+Work.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Corner in Wheat is the first film on the Film: Ab Initio list to tackle a contemporary political issue on film.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The film portrays three different elements of the corn industry: the growers, the speculators and the eventual buyers of wheat. The ease with which Griffith moves between the three different worlds is impressive. In particular, he makes the most of the technique first seen in The Great Train Robbery, crosscutting. This allows him to juxtapose the plight of the working men struggling to afford the bread with the lavish opulence of the successful speculator who attends a dinner with his society friends. The film’s primary focus is the speculator, known as the Wheat King.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">It is extremely interesting to not how little the image of corporate America has change over the last one hundred years. The first time we meet the Wheat King, he is surrounded by men who are all dressed in similar attire. This reminded me of the agents in The Matrix, which was released exactly ninety years later (see the two pictures below). As Aristotle once said, “It is not once nor twice but times without number that the same ideas make their appearance in the world”.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXGwZNqnfZC3RB5oNATZBtgVxscw7gskplX4HRzNTuxQTBD140IWbm9Y7CQZoTpdLFHTwQxK1NMAsRaFfRjgDrXblkeQYiBxlOYxhzO0OCGxZET7xvAYIfnBYD1-JW0i97ZdnqC6aEKUs/s1600/The+Matrix+-+agents.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXGwZNqnfZC3RB5oNATZBtgVxscw7gskplX4HRzNTuxQTBD140IWbm9Y7CQZoTpdLFHTwQxK1NMAsRaFfRjgDrXblkeQYiBxlOYxhzO0OCGxZET7xvAYIfnBYD1-JW0i97ZdnqC6aEKUs/s1600/The+Matrix+-+agents.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ap1iJhmDSpPfbWP0sXzxghBI3relVZGG3oIFnh6fxABcoNJEOhKxM7DEHh0Zp9BlPtQDqm4PojkD6MfVtN3c7TqOmv-p7lczXjAgaZ8tQz3MR8HSxm1B0p5EZ0SgsGOkjEl3yyVTiCc/s1600/Corner+in+Wheat+-+suck+ups.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ap1iJhmDSpPfbWP0sXzxghBI3relVZGG3oIFnh6fxABcoNJEOhKxM7DEHh0Zp9BlPtQDqm4PojkD6MfVtN3c7TqOmv-p7lczXjAgaZ8tQz3MR8HSxm1B0p5EZ0SgsGOkjEl3yyVTiCc/s320/Corner+in+Wheat+-+suck+ups.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">With his raised left eyebrow and grinning eyes, his role as the film’s ‘villain’ is established immediately by Griffith. As the film them moves to the Wheat floor where all the trading takes place, the heightened movement of the actors combined with their parting for the wheat king as he arrives made me think of John Milton’s hell in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_lost">Paradise Lost</a>:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">With hideous ruin and combustion, down<br />
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell<br />
In adamantine chains and penal fire,<br />
Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms.<br />
Nine times the space that measures day and night<br />
To mortal men, he, with his horrid crew,<br />
Lay vanquished, rolling in the fiery gulf,<br />
Confounded, though immortal. But his doom<br />
Reserved him to more wrath; for now the thought<br />
Both of lost happiness and lasting pain<br />
Torments him: round he throws his baleful eyes,<br />
That witnessed huge affliction and dismay,<br />
Mixed with obdurate pride and steadfast hate. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Book I l. 46-58)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh11XYbDGJPxVV75YEjwnGpKO8_Jb6NqhJiDtvgZIiyAfVsg1R3OT9HCHpiDq7Y6IszxVfjSPttKkMDRbznSsEb5kljYEAJLuqAKO00gIjGitCLkSRzi-LC0SWzyJdV3PlQCYdhE9yrmEU/s1600/Corner+In+Wheat+-+bully.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh11XYbDGJPxVV75YEjwnGpKO8_Jb6NqhJiDtvgZIiyAfVsg1R3OT9HCHpiDq7Y6IszxVfjSPttKkMDRbznSsEb5kljYEAJLuqAKO00gIjGitCLkSRzi-LC0SWzyJdV3PlQCYdhE9yrmEU/s320/Corner+In+Wheat+-+bully.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Wheat King’s ‘obdurate pride and steadfast hate’ are on full display when he physically accosts a trader (see image above). The cramped, claustrophobic room (see image below) could not be more different to the vast open space where we see the solitary farmer ploughing his weed earlier in the film. The ‘adamantine chains and penal fire’ may not be visible, but the audience is certainly given the impression that they embody this scene on a metaphorical level. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg45pTj79Udgn8l_yoljCOTniFCIl47QDklc7XrGGFQ4Z3S4zs-bUs7nHOE_w8Z0bMEXdhYVChh4RTfXI9rRS0WzX-jOLxxYUGmHRM36fKPg0s9u1Q96QqSqSxcCc8lwOmhWg5h99VEHt0/s1600/Corner+in+Wheat+-+Wheat+Pit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg45pTj79Udgn8l_yoljCOTniFCIl47QDklc7XrGGFQ4Z3S4zs-bUs7nHOE_w8Z0bMEXdhYVChh4RTfXI9rRS0WzX-jOLxxYUGmHRM36fKPg0s9u1Q96QqSqSxcCc8lwOmhWg5h99VEHt0/s320/Corner+in+Wheat+-+Wheat+Pit.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">At this point in the film, I was taken aback by the complex narrative structure and was convinced that Corner </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">in Wheat may well be a more than worthy predecessor of both Citizen Kane and There Will Be Blood; with all three films portraying ruthless American industrialists who embody the darker side of the American Experiment. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiynXPjKSNLlDt7pGApytdu3lp8Yc3HNGn_cX5ZmD09i2jaSlzxTN7R-HmSlkFna_eDI6e2jB53Iuzvh_kMjmX9vBtSB1_gWOmkeYOnvoyLxCk9DD6o0CWIiy8jt7-sQr4xK-Gp2DnQo0/s1600/Corner+in+Wheat+-+Death+by+wheat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiynXPjKSNLlDt7pGApytdu3lp8Yc3HNGn_cX5ZmD09i2jaSlzxTN7R-HmSlkFna_eDI6e2jB53Iuzvh_kMjmX9vBtSB1_gWOmkeYOnvoyLxCk9DD6o0CWIiy8jt7-sQr4xK-Gp2DnQo0/s320/Corner+in+Wheat+-+Death+by+wheat.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Therefore, I could barely conceal my disappointment when the Wheat King falls down a grain elevator and is killed by the very wheat that he was speculating on (see image above). In an instant, the film went from a complex examination of a Faustesque character to a simplistic Biblical parable on the excesses of greed. And returning to the aforementioned Milton quote, the Wheat King is an archetypal villain; he may have ‘obdurate pride and steadfast hate’, but unlike Milton’s Satan, he lacks the ‘lost happiness’ and ‘huge affliction’ that makes Milton’s character such a powerful and memorable character. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiywanksp-Qo1_1BHt74NgKwgXK_b0yS4AmSO7h09PvTl2DN6YMCG1y6WaMyI7PW6V4PZ6LKlqIro8Blel5ECuAfx9unKPtjpK-e1zA4sYOLB4ZEm8NXfCZLzDlB4wsN9hsz7VyyxnABWk/s1600/Corner+in+Wheat+-+Queue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiywanksp-Qo1_1BHt74NgKwgXK_b0yS4AmSO7h09PvTl2DN6YMCG1y6WaMyI7PW6V4PZ6LKlqIro8Blel5ECuAfx9unKPtjpK-e1zA4sYOLB4ZEm8NXfCZLzDlB4wsN9hsz7VyyxnABWk/s320/Corner+in+Wheat+-+Queue.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Hence when I saw <a href="http://silent-volume.blogspot.com/2009/03/corner-in-wheat-1909.html">the following</a> over at the excellent Silent Volume, I was more than intrigued:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"></div><blockquote>I’ve never forgotten the image of the Wheat King writhing at the bottom of the grain elevator as the stream of grain buries him. He’s a greedy bastard and he smothers.</blockquote><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><blockquote>Do we really need more nuance? Do we want more? Exploring why the Wheat King could become ‘king’ of anything in a democratic society might deny us the opportunity to convict him fully. It’s so cathartic to set a blatant villain in sharp relief to blatant victims—those victims being us, of course. Griffith knew it in 1909, and we know it now. Nevertheless, there is a deeper lesson to be learned from Corner in Wheat, if we’re prepared to look for it.</blockquote></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I think it is too easy to be satisfied by an image in art that plays to our political rather artistic impulses. For example, Oliver Stone was roundly criticised for not having such a moment in his biopic on George W Bush. To think up an example, the image of the Mission Accomplished banner falling on W’s head may have provided momentary satisfaction in Stone's film for those of a certain political persuasion. But art does not exist so that we can indulge in wish fulfilment. Rather than finding the Wheat King’s demise cathartic, I felt that it narrowed the spectrum of what the film was trying to convey, and this sentiment worked retrospectively too. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Whereas earlier I praised the film for juxtaposing the Wheat King’s high society lifestyle with the people who could not afford to buy bread (see the two images above); now, these scenes seem emotionally manipulative retrospectively, willing on the audience to act like a Roman mob and feel pleased with the Wheat King’s violent demise. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">And although I think Silent Volume is correct to draw a parallel with today by later comparing the film’s events with what happened with AIG today, I think he has drawn the wrong conclusion. The legacy of Griffith’s decision to adopt an oversimplified moral stance and use crass juxtaposition of conflicting images can now be found daily on news channels to distort and over-dramatise insubstantial issues into full blown crises. The moral of the film is not that greed is bad, but rather that the moving image can greatly reduce the ambiguity of the written word and oversimplify a complex discussion.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">As with many films, Corner in Wheat disappoints after a most promising beginning. There is no doubting Griffith’s broad scope and ambition with Corner in Wheat, but ultimately the film reveals its philosophical core to be as complex as a medieval morality play. And given the delightful allegory that Feuillade has constructed in the same year with The Surf of the Fairy, it is hard to excuse the film’s melodramatic simplicity on the grounds that it was an early silent film. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
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</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-12889507202626683822010-08-24T23:41:00.001+01:002010-08-24T23:45:31.142+01:001909 - A Midsummer Night's Dream - Charles Kent & J. Stuart Blackton<object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9rzPm1tLK64?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9rzPm1tLK64?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If 2009 may have been the year of the vampire, 1909 was certainly the year of the fairy. The appearance of Puck and the other fairies in this first cinematic adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream means that three of the four films we have looked at so far have involved fairies. Puck’s mischief making in this film has more in common with the playfully troublesome fairies in Princess Nicotine than the benevolent fairy in the Fairy of the Surf. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Thanks to Tinkerbell and the tooth fairy, we assume that fairies have positive characteristics. However, fairies used to be associated with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy">following</a></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div><blockquote>Much of the folklore about fairies revolves around protection from their malice, by such means as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_iron" title="Cold iron"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">cold iron</span></a> (iron is like poison to fairies, and they will not go near it) or charms of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowan" title="Rowan"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">rowan</span></a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb" title="Herb"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">herbs</span></a>, or avoiding offense by shunning locations known to be theirs.<sup><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy#cite_note-5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">[6]</span></span></a></sup> In particular, folklore describes how to prevent the fairies from stealing babies and substituting <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changeling" title="Changeling"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">changelings</span></a>, and abducting older people as well.</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCGAc9s31J8qDXqXAHEP4TGqDvteJQXrqzWCmH72dRVdSsN1g-sIZZWLR7essQIkHKeQhfeNQpoQYwPPkk-a-YFpHfmmtmPCFWmAVLJ6XoKbwXLKegIS4jKxFJaa_y8zclzMcgThnLN0U/s1600/AMidsummerNightsDream1909+-+Fairyworld.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCGAc9s31J8qDXqXAHEP4TGqDvteJQXrqzWCmH72dRVdSsN1g-sIZZWLR7essQIkHKeQhfeNQpoQYwPPkk-a-YFpHfmmtmPCFWmAVLJ6XoKbwXLKegIS4jKxFJaa_y8zclzMcgThnLN0U/s320/AMidsummerNightsDream1909+-+Fairyworld.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The representational nature of the fairy has therefore shifted more than any mythic creature and is a suitably apt mascot for early film. Although film was gaining credibility and recognition by 1909, there was no certainty as to whether it would develop as a major art or what effect it would have on its audience. From the films that we have looked at so far in 1909, it has become apparent that the year sees film beginning to find the technical means to match its loftier ambitions for its further development. The uncertainty of what film may represent during this period correlates with the uncertainty of what fairies represented (which ranges from demoted angels to demons). I suspect that there are a number of issues and interpretations that can be raised here, but I will delay mentioning them to see how the symbol of the fairy develops over the next decade.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The film itself differs significantly from the first Shakespeare play we looked at, The Tempest. Firstly, unlike The Tempest, it was made across the Atlantic by Vitagraph. They were developing a niche of making prestige films based on esteemed cultural sources such as Shakespeare.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Unlike the 1908 version of The Tempest, A Midsummer’s Night Dream is at times guilty of being ‘stage bound’. This is particularly true of the opening scene, where it feels as though the camera is merely filming a theatrical adaptation of the play on a set rather than attempting to create a movie that can attempt to stand independently of its source. And given the limitations of a ‘one-reeler’ such as this in conveying the entirety of a Shakespeare play, this is a significant setback.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">An even greater problem with the film is that around a third of it is missing, including one of the play’s finest moments, Bottom and his motley crew’s take on <span style="color: black;">Pyramus and Thisbe. Given that the film is attempting to be a play on film, this only serves to confuse and alienate the audience, as the missing plot developments result in a surviving film riddled with inconsistencies. This may be a tad harsh on the film, but if it had been more visually imaginative and braver in interpreting its source material, the film would have been a far greater success. </span> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The film may be more flawed than most of the ones we have looked at so far on the Film: Ab Initio list, but it does have some amiable qualities. The performance of Puck is delightful; energetic, colourful and playful, her first appearance breathes life into what until her arrival had been an insipid take on Shakespeare’s play (see image above). The film also decides to replace the role of Oberon with a female fairy called Penelope. We can only speculate as to why Vitagraph decided to make such an adjustment, but this decision adds a level of intrigue that benefits the film. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And finally, I am normally quite sceptical when it comes to most modern audio commentaries on films, but the commentary for this film and the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Silent-Shakespeare/dp/6305869383/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1282689526&sr=8-1">Silent Shakespeare DVD</a> in general is worthy of praise. Judith Buchanan provides us with an insightful, passionate look at the film, revealing useful pieces of information, such as the fact the film’s release may have been delayed so that it could be released on Christmas Day or the fact that <span style="color: black;">Hermia, played by Julia Swayne Gordon was Vitagraph’s principal leading lady in this period. If only more early silent films had such useful commentaries!</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: black;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO1oywxZIlzBUJLjSMfJOpXMrJxdGee1okSix_3TIJCeyy1vbcGdpC3v9KynJR_eiz6i7J0kMqEgNcjtG5Iij7AhAmniwkYQuMCtOlOtoBoGSa6yq9KWdurQPIrIqNdbq4s0QoPfFz5yA/s1600/AMidsummerNightsDream1909+-+Donkey+married.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO1oywxZIlzBUJLjSMfJOpXMrJxdGee1okSix_3TIJCeyy1vbcGdpC3v9KynJR_eiz6i7J0kMqEgNcjtG5Iij7AhAmniwkYQuMCtOlOtoBoGSa6yq9KWdurQPIrIqNdbq4s0QoPfFz5yA/s320/AMidsummerNightsDream1909+-+Donkey+married.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: black;"><br />
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</span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-64663463406761798162010-08-23T23:28:00.003+01:002010-08-27T10:51:36.758+01:00Film's first fairytale - 1909 - La fée des grèves (The Fairy of the Surf) - Louis Feuillade<object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_FQwfx8e6To&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_FQwfx8e6To&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">There are certain films that only make a notable impression on their audience after the film has concluded. They do not radiate brilliance throughout as many of the great films do, but their appreciation greatly increases when they considered in their entirety: Louis Feuillade’s The Fairy of the Surf is one of these films. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">The film disguises itself as what we would today call a costume drama, but the film invites far more complex readings than its genre may suggest.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">Before discussing the various readings the film invites, Feuillade’s developing directorial skills should be discussed. In The Fairy of the Surf, Feuillade pulls of a feat that no film has managed to do so thus far, achieve a smooth transition between a ‘natural’ exterior and an interior.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivfO1_C_ZUE4dXsRhD2pcbloOMdrxg9pjSFVGVUisKZk-b3e5Z7EtVXZAJNELZKfj1HBrLZpB5jlPtyeXlOYerFmeY64gWGbF6WtfgodmYfnkHIffEXXbm6i-LZOYsq3UotdVgvjS0nfo/s1600/FairyOfTheSurf+-+Big+Hallway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivfO1_C_ZUE4dXsRhD2pcbloOMdrxg9pjSFVGVUisKZk-b3e5Z7EtVXZAJNELZKfj1HBrLZpB5jlPtyeXlOYerFmeY64gWGbF6WtfgodmYfnkHIffEXXbm6i-LZOYsq3UotdVgvjS0nfo/s320/FairyOfTheSurf+-+Big+Hallway.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">Although films shot in cities have successfully managed such transitions, films which have been partly shot outside of a city have either failed in portraying the transition, or more often than not, avoided it all together (see <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/08/first-successful-shakespeare-adaptation.html">The Tempest</a> (1908) and<a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/07/first-dramatic-russian-film-1908-stenka.html"> Stenka Razin</a> (1908)). As Prince Sigismond walks the fairy up the stairs of his castle and they enter a large hall (see image above), the shift between the two locations is seamless. We may take for granted what we now considered to be a routine and mundane switch, but it is early directors such as Feuillade who enabled later directors to perform such movement with ease.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj72NANsiz2V0LUapK6PrB5zFtoIVhb0WHOuMzl5sdG7uGMfZHnAKoG7Sb9QtAf_xqqPbNDMYBrSNy94IlaNs-JSYWXmVPiMYp9FOK9TtwkvJJ6mCTlwDPADifDr3myV1bbIVJ64C8E904/s1600/FairyOfTheSurf+-+Sunset+shot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj72NANsiz2V0LUapK6PrB5zFtoIVhb0WHOuMzl5sdG7uGMfZHnAKoG7Sb9QtAf_xqqPbNDMYBrSNy94IlaNs-JSYWXmVPiMYp9FOK9TtwkvJJ6mCTlwDPADifDr3myV1bbIVJ64C8E904/s320/FairyOfTheSurf+-+Sunset+shot.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The film also contains a sublime shot (see image above), which should be categorised as what Kurosawa termed as ‘pure cinema’. As the Prince and his friend capture the fairy from the river, their boat heads back towards the shore; as their boat shits direction, the entire frame is engulfed by a blaze of light. It is a shot of terrifying beauty that recalls one J.M.V’s dazzling portrayals of sunlight. As Picasso once said, "Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot; others transform a yellow spot into the sun." Even in his earliest films, Feuillade hints at the flair and control that he will exhibit in his later films. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBuYBSn_5KuabKnjT7r4TsCpc1eMCkNmtNpf1l4p0w0NmW6r1E3H7PGv9KdKJ7kIhoEG9oANjSvFA0L7bfVmR22xH6OoOfr1G80J58JWuY-kyb6G598p6sznFAjknyRNTqM47cKuxjI90/s1600/FairyOfTheSurf+-+Two+Princes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBuYBSn_5KuabKnjT7r4TsCpc1eMCkNmtNpf1l4p0w0NmW6r1E3H7PGv9KdKJ7kIhoEG9oANjSvFA0L7bfVmR22xH6OoOfr1G80J58JWuY-kyb6G598p6sznFAjknyRNTqM47cKuxjI90/s320/FairyOfTheSurf+-+Two+Princes.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The colouring of the costumes is done particularly well (see image above). In certain films from this era, colouring can be overdone and diminish a particular film’s visual qualities. Here, however, the colouring of clothing is subtle and enhances certain scenes, such as when the various couples make their way to the wedding, and the colouring of the ladies’ dresses highlights the grandiosity of the occasion (see image below). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdtH-9R6SWCxRyNuU6SToljcFf6EN1YxGhMOyUFM2Z-9Aa7pKBp_vZ2GrO2G-B1HNQImPfNC42S286io6ThP584v6PWgS5JEoTiCUIIoAfKFheOe9m_I8dG_QtQPK8IHbyCkIIhm5xKWM/s1600/FairyOfTheSurf+-+Procession.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdtH-9R6SWCxRyNuU6SToljcFf6EN1YxGhMOyUFM2Z-9Aa7pKBp_vZ2GrO2G-B1HNQImPfNC42S286io6ThP584v6PWgS5JEoTiCUIIoAfKFheOe9m_I8dG_QtQPK8IHbyCkIIhm5xKWM/s320/FairyOfTheSurf+-+Procession.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The film also manages scenes with large groups of people in a more convincing manner than has been attempted in previous films (this improvement undoubtedly owes a debt to the constant technological innovations of film as well). Each individual’s body is decipherable, as is their movement. Feuillade’s decision to employ the technique of slow motion as each couple leaves the wedding after the fairy and the prince leaves highlights his ability in regards to orchestrating the movement of a group of people (see image below). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfK2QkdEZ-dGuvJxB-SB3VzV2eBjFFt43tUwxvWlsfsXD19Cf0tNqrwf_zQlO_47sOL8gxJOjhET0QoOsnVh_RZ_HBKwqC5oVtTibGudXjyPlQ6dkFTCumBLL8Ye6OTpVdExWPKjNqEp0/s1600/FairyOfTheSurf+-+PartyIsOver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfK2QkdEZ-dGuvJxB-SB3VzV2eBjFFt43tUwxvWlsfsXD19Cf0tNqrwf_zQlO_47sOL8gxJOjhET0QoOsnVh_RZ_HBKwqC5oVtTibGudXjyPlQ6dkFTCumBLL8Ye6OTpVdExWPKjNqEp0/s320/FairyOfTheSurf+-+PartyIsOver.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The plot of the film is simple; Prince Sigismond and his friend capture a fairy from the river next to his castle, and the Prince convinces her to marry him. After they marry, she faints as she realises that she cannot live away from the river and collapses (see image below). She begs her new husband to allow her to return to her home. As he begs her to stay, he finally gives up and decides to go with her. The final scene involves them sitting on an underwater throne together. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGV9XBcCnFqybjafSKw_DJl8sIqZB3kZhor-NiftISFKO1DVtmxoQrz9DX5hb4jTNhj_7hW7wU5T7ES2lR071KGD3AYmBlQ-CiZM-4LXqq3lEu3bHPKdVz-x5dytNvKnAfal3ykUMPZT0/s1600/FairyOfTheSurf+-+Fairy+Collapse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGV9XBcCnFqybjafSKw_DJl8sIqZB3kZhor-NiftISFKO1DVtmxoQrz9DX5hb4jTNhj_7hW7wU5T7ES2lR071KGD3AYmBlQ-CiZM-4LXqq3lEu3bHPKdVz-x5dytNvKnAfal3ykUMPZT0/s320/FairyOfTheSurf+-+Fairy+Collapse.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">At a basic level, we have a simple love story. But rather than the fairy forsaking her world for her prince, the opposite happens. Given the combination of the love story with sparing use of visual trickery, The Fairy of the Surf is clearly a loose forerunner for films such as Avatar. However, the film’s aforementioned completeness and retrospective satisfaction lends itself to any number of fairy tales. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVeWC37cm93-2ASa3xTsiSwyKufvthuDEmpH_0FDmreo30k9UmOd9F1_YrU6qj1J3MEvISZYMwgv3Ek7p5i0fUYcXpNulgIK-QJIOcYuSFE-CeAcd2brQhTla8w_0Qn58Iy-cPRdCO00I/s1600/FairyOfTheSurf+-+Fairy+Leaves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVeWC37cm93-2ASa3xTsiSwyKufvthuDEmpH_0FDmreo30k9UmOd9F1_YrU6qj1J3MEvISZYMwgv3Ek7p5i0fUYcXpNulgIK-QJIOcYuSFE-CeAcd2brQhTla8w_0Qn58Iy-cPRdCO00I/s320/FairyOfTheSurf+-+Fairy+Leaves.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Another reading of the film is that it is an allegory for the battle between reality and the imagination. The Prince represents reality and the fairy represents the imagination. As the Prince captures the fairy and marries her, it appears that reality is harnessing and taking control of the imagination. Yet as the imagination has a violent reaction against reality and realises that it cannot exist on this plain so must return to her river of imagination, reality secedes its attempt to control the imagination and enters the world of the imagination. It is on this plain that the two are able to happily coexist (see image below); the allegory serves as an excellent lesson for any artist, and may also function as Feuillade’s mission statement for what will be an extremely successful decade for him.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZQIc3sB8pG0JQzqBRRpv8NBh5ix2nlZMT38jpjLST7ZmuPU5rtjiFBlKlsODrwX7bDpwpJpyRQIkVNII8GR5k9HTJQNyYfStKttugphl52CNsCpMLtNUS8Man2uzW8uJBdModkcl_jqU/s1600/FairyOfTheSurf+-+Happy+Ending.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZQIc3sB8pG0JQzqBRRpv8NBh5ix2nlZMT38jpjLST7ZmuPU5rtjiFBlKlsODrwX7bDpwpJpyRQIkVNII8GR5k9HTJQNyYfStKttugphl52CNsCpMLtNUS8Man2uzW8uJBdModkcl_jqU/s320/FairyOfTheSurf+-+Happy+Ending.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-41970525809954670712010-08-22T23:23:00.000+01:002010-08-22T23:23:29.355+01:00The first romantic comedy - 1909 - Le baromètre de la fidélité (The Fidelity barometer) - Georges Monca<object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ifVLPWi8ZDM?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ifVLPWi8ZDM?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-outline-level: 1;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">1909 was a pivotal year in film history. Film was moving away from the trick film as well as witnessing directors attempt to tackle more complex themes and genres such as tragedy. In <span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">Le baromètre de la fidélité</span>, we have the great comic of this era attempting to expand on the slapstick humour he perfected in films such as <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/07/slapstick-is-born-1907-debut-dun.html">Début d'un patineur</a></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">, thus allowing him to take advantage of film’s rapidly increasing length.<span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-outline-level: 1;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-outline-level: 1;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">This would involve engaging in a different type of humour than that found in his earlier slapstick films. The humour in his earlier films is immediate and obvious, whereas in <span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">Le baromètre de la fidélité</span> the film’s comedy simmers for the majority of the film before coming to a highly amusing end. <span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-outline-level: 1;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-outline-level: 1;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Film historians rightly comment on the technical innovations that various early silent films employ. But the narrative techniques that film develops during this period are often overlooked; for example, in <span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">Le baromètre de la fidélité</span>, Linder opens the film with detailed exposition, giving the scenario that the film focuses on greater weight. <span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-outline-level: 1;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-outline-level: 1;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">In this opening scene, we see Linder and his wife happily canoeing down a river in wedded bliss. When we meet them in the next scene, they are clearly bored and frustrated with one another. As the two scenes are juxtaposed with one another, the frustration they experience in the later scene becomes both heightened and comic. If Linder had made this film a few years earlier, he may not have been able to employ this useful device. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-outline-level: 1;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjofvBIV7q7Y3_XFfnpumSG2ClA37FtlyJBHNyAmqe-Tm7-QlLuEWMx3QbD6guZbeizX-OW_gusZH_eipegsf02CVE0es-3dp9VEiyURUzFrbVfl6BQNKAmwF-iQ8kYjqi30gmYLaLlKXA/s1600/Max+Linder+1909.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjofvBIV7q7Y3_XFfnpumSG2ClA37FtlyJBHNyAmqe-Tm7-QlLuEWMx3QbD6guZbeizX-OW_gusZH_eipegsf02CVE0es-3dp9VEiyURUzFrbVfl6BQNKAmwF-iQ8kYjqi30gmYLaLlKXA/s320/Max+Linder+1909.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-outline-level: 1;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-outline-level: 1;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-outline-level: 1;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">The opening scene is also shot in an exotic, open location that is deliberately contrasted with the claustrophobic exterior of their living room in the next scene for another reason as well. The exotic location of the opening scene will have impressed contemporary audiences and added another layer of interest for them. Whereas Melies continued to work within the confines of the trick film genre, Linder was a more pragmatic operator who was happy to absorb and explore techniques and subject matters that were outside the confines of slapstick humour. It is therefore unsurprising that he would become film’s biggest star by the turn of the century. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-outline-level: 1;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-outline-level: 1;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Once the film moves from its exotic location to Linder’s living room, the film centres on a fidelity barometer. I have googled this unusual term and cannot find any precedent for it in an article online. (Can any French readers tell us if this device had been employed by a French writer before Linder?) The Linder’s are given a long tube filled with clear liquid and told that their fidelity is proven as long as the liquid stays clear. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-outline-level: 1;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-outline-level: 1;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">It is clear that the setup will result in disaster, but it is the way that the film goes about delivering its climax that is both satisfying and amusing. Yet again, Linder’s physical movements are impeccable in these final movements, every gesture is so considered as he manages to deliver his inimitable performance without ever over-exaggerating or playing down a particular comic moment. Linder succeeds where so many other actors fail in silent film: communicating with his audience without them ever wishing he was able to utter a single word.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-outline-level: 1;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-outline-level: 1;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Although we would struggle to find a fidelity barometer in a modern day romantic comedy, the entire structure of <span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">Le baromètre de la fidélité</span> is genre specific to the romantic comedy, with several considerable exceptions. As with film of the same year Princess Nicotine, the humour is dark and sassy. Its brand of humour makes it a forerunner for the screwball comedies of the thirties and forties. The film oozes with a level of charm and cheekiness that you will rarely find in a modern romantic comedy; for example, the lack of moralising makes a most welcome change.<span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-outline-level: 1;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-outline-level: 1;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">For a man who had and would continue to make his name in the slapstick genre of comedy, Linder is remarkably at ease in what can be considered as one of the first romantic comedies. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-outline-level: 1;"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-85850663768534885162010-08-21T21:34:00.000+01:002010-08-21T21:34:05.045+01:00The last great trick film? - 1909 - Princess Nicotine - J. Stuart Blackton<object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bzvmZAzCF0M?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bzvmZAzCF0M?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Just as rapid technological innovation lead to film having the ability to tackle more ‘serious’ genres such as tragedy, the medium’s increasing length also meant that film’s earliest topics were now of less importance. The Lumiere Brothers’ actuality film no longer had the effect of wowing audiences simply because they were witnessing the moving image for the first time. The trick film too, was becoming a less important genre and would eventually desist altogether. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">(Although there is a convincing argument to be made that many of the action films made since the eighties are the natural extension of these early trick films: i.e. the primary emphasis of these films are visual trickery, although most of these later films lack the wit and charm of these early trick films.)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfhouX4obdIeEOstlPAO9OazGxhw9EdafncvZOWCzxblZnXatO7lUdmVhJ7cvqRf88h2VYrUOewQXKPe2_nsPiJNT47EjUUAIuIKUK8_xI4Ngs78Upk1X3P-gwJSdCjPh8u__6Uly3F-c/s1600/Princess+Nicotine+-+The+Smoker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfhouX4obdIeEOstlPAO9OazGxhw9EdafncvZOWCzxblZnXatO7lUdmVhJ7cvqRf88h2VYrUOewQXKPe2_nsPiJNT47EjUUAIuIKUK8_xI4Ngs78Upk1X3P-gwJSdCjPh8u__6Uly3F-c/s320/Princess+Nicotine+-+The+Smoker.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">As influential as Méliès has been on many of the filmmakers of the last thirty years, his influence on his immediate peers is less apparent. Princess Nicotine, along with Blactkon’s earlier trick film, The Thieving Hand, are clear examples of trick films that have been heavily influenced by Méliès, However, as we navigate the next decade of film making, his influence and popularity both temporarily wane. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">The extraordinary settings of Méliès’ Le Voyage dans la Lune (1902) and Le Voyage à travers l'Impossible (1904) (if you want to read more about Méliès’, check out <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/05/films-first-cinemagician-magic-of.html">this review</a> of both films as well as other films made by Méliès ) allowed both films to entertain and delight audiences at fourteen minutes and twenty four minutes respectively. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>However, as Méliès and other like minded film makers would discover over the next few years, audiences' interests would change dramatically; film was no longer seen as a gimmick; instead, it was now considered by some to have the potential to function as an art form. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Princess Nicotine identifies the primary problem that makes it abundantly clear why the trick film’s popularity was waning in 1908: film’s increasing length. Outside of Méliès’ two aforementioned masterpieces, it is hard to find a surviving trick film that was an unqualified success which lasted for more than ten minutes. The problem was that there was a limited selection of camera tricks that one could use. Princess Nicotine used every stage and camera trick that was available at the time, and still only managed to thread together a film that lasts for five minutes. Within five years many films would run for over an hour, making it impossible for a trick film to possess the sustained quality of a film like Princess Nicotine.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">As with Blackton’s earlier trick film, <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/07/surreal-comic-delight-1908-thieving.html">The Thieving Hand</a>, Princess Nicotine incorporates surreal and fantastical elements to an ordinary situation to entertain his viewers. Princess Nicotine involves an Edwardian man discovering two ‘tobacco fairies’ (see image below) among his smokes and the fallout that ensues. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh6ACtNCKAtJBibZE033VvdpUTo1-kJbE8wVsQjF4dCmgsxyhZGD5r4QV2qm9rHX23kONFjUCGM3hvtFiAT06sesJYZD2SlZywnsmgy1wIjsXRtmjKBDBt6c-mSNAVorNN-PLNx4l3zKU/s1600/Princess+Nicotine+-+Fairies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh6ACtNCKAtJBibZE033VvdpUTo1-kJbE8wVsQjF4dCmgsxyhZGD5r4QV2qm9rHX23kONFjUCGM3hvtFiAT06sesJYZD2SlZywnsmgy1wIjsXRtmjKBDBt6c-mSNAVorNN-PLNx4l3zKU/s1600/Princess+Nicotine+-+Fairies.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">I was surprised by the devilish amount of sassiness and wit that Princess Nicotine offers its audience; the fairies in the film are more Christopher Marlowe than Walt Disney, and all the better for it. The Smoker, who is played by Paul Panzer, is charming, but lacks the subtleties in body movement that Max Linder displayed in his film on the topic of smoking, <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/06/1906-le-premier-cigare-dun-collegien.html">Le Premier Cigare D’un Collegien</a>. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">What makes Princess Nicotine stand out from most other trick films is its narrative pacing. The tricks on display do not feel gratuitous; each one raises the comic stakes of the faux battle between the two parties, with the film ending on a dark but humorous note. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-85441598284120378092010-08-19T16:29:00.001+01:002010-08-27T11:05:13.678+01:00The first cinematic Roman Tragedy - 1909 - Nerone - Luigi Maggi<object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6VSK4uCylGM?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6VSK4uCylGM?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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<blockquote>...The silent historical or costume film ultimately marked the high-water mark of Italian production and its success abroad in foreign markets. Interest in literary or historical topics helped to create the need for the artistic director, in addition to the cameraman and the producer, whose task was to coordinate the necessary research, the construction of sets and costumes, and the increasingly central role of the often temperamental actor and actresses whose popularity would soon surpass that of the man or woman in the street of the early documentary short film. Increasingly complex plots, taken either from history or from the Italian literary classics, also required the services of another technician, the scriptwriter even though films were yet to speak.</blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">As Film: Ab Initio continues to progress through film's rich history, one of the most interesting conclusions that we can draw about the growth of the film industry is the strange paradox of separate countries producing wholly distinctive films that nevertheless produced certain roles and developments that influenced film makers across the globe. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">Within seconds, Nerone can be identified as an Italian film, yet the crucial developments that such Italian films made in regards to creating the positions of artistic director, producer and script writer, as mentioned in the above quote (from Peter Bondanella’s indispensable book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/History-Italian-Cinema-Peter-Bondanella/dp/1441160698/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_6">A History Of Italian Cinema</a>) will become a permanent feature for all filmmakers. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VTP0JTJWK8E?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VTP0JTJWK8E?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">The role of artistic director is particularly interesting, as although you may have equivalents to script directors and producers in regards to plays, the role of the artistic director is somewhat unique to cinema (theatre has stage managers, but a play will only have a limited amount of sets and is limited to the stage). The physical setting of Nerone is most impressive and marks a significant step up from those found in the first Italian film, <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/06/1905-la-presa-di-roma-taking-of-rome.html">La Presa Di Roma </a></span><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">. Whereas the film involved events that took place only decades ago, Nerone’s events take place towards the end of the Emperor Nero’s reign. The sets are therefore more elaborate, with more attention paid to detail.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">Perhaps the mediocre quality of the print aids Nerone’s feeling of authenticity, as the sets and costumes are far more ‘believable’ than in any film we have seen so far on the Film: Ab Initio list. For example, the scene where Nero parades Poppea to the Roman public is a spectacular set piece. Here we have some film’s first extras dressed up as Roman citizens welcoming their new Empress. The synchronicity with which they part and then greet the royal couple hints at similar set-pieces that we will see in later films.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQkucqcs7DvZnGa7hc3eDnlo8szKxc7OYYWkEXkYaZzSmNk8PLeTXzuSyAXbEq1ogY984LnjIy29ANuIIQxJMrC7-U5AJsL7ASdf75Ogj_Pn29t7yT8tYxJc0934rbuZ767XORtNd7t4o/s1600/Nerone+-+1909+-+Emperor+Nero+leaves+Rome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQkucqcs7DvZnGa7hc3eDnlo8szKxc7OYYWkEXkYaZzSmNk8PLeTXzuSyAXbEq1ogY984LnjIy29ANuIIQxJMrC7-U5AJsL7ASdf75Ogj_Pn29t7yT8tYxJc0934rbuZ767XORtNd7t4o/s320/Nerone+-+1909+-+Emperor+Nero+leaves+Rome.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">The tone of Nerone is different to any film that we have observed so far, it is the first tragedy that we have encountered. I would suggest that this is because it is the hardest genre to convey in the limited period of time that film makers had in the first decade of the 20<sup>th</sup> century. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">Whereas comedy lends itself rather well to the time-scale that the early silent period offered, it is far more difficult to develop sufficient pathos in a story in the twelve minutes of a film like Nerone to enable your audience to be taken by the tragic nature of that particular film.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">Hence choosing a well-known historical event is a shrewd move; most audiences would be aware of the story and would have known any missing details the films could not cover as well as already have an emotional investment in the characters. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-e13Paas1OPnyGO6oqYI6-nAkL9Bbsput51mePQAsmTy8mhlr_NVVoKk3XhmCHjnGCYi55Sy2yCH_UeJlKB2nG91wBbTnRgLA_pHmrZvqis5PPzp8eg0weoDjTQBPkxIAO1ZpVfgk8SE/s1600/Nerone+-+1909+-+Emperor+Nero.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-e13Paas1OPnyGO6oqYI6-nAkL9Bbsput51mePQAsmTy8mhlr_NVVoKk3XhmCHjnGCYi55Sy2yCH_UeJlKB2nG91wBbTnRgLA_pHmrZvqis5PPzp8eg0weoDjTQBPkxIAO1ZpVfgk8SE/s1600/Nerone+-+1909+-+Emperor+Nero.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">Therefore it is a great shame that the actor who plays Nero himself (see picture above) completely overacts the part; the most impressive thing about his performance is his facial hair. The calm, regal atmosphere the film exudes in its opening scene is dampened by Nero’s overtly eager physical gestures and posturing. The actress who plays Octavia on the other hand, is rather impressive. She manages to convey a diverse range of emotions in a short period of time before she is murdered; moving from shock to authority to philosophical resignation within a span of five seconds. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">The most imaginative moment of the film comes towards the denouement of the film, as we see Nero lying on a chair, with his imaginative thoughts unfolding in the background; a pastoral scene gives way to what appears to be Rome on fire, causing Nero to collapse in fear of his own thoughts. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">It is as powerful a scene as we have witnessed in any film so far, and makes great use of the medium of film to explore the apocalyptic visions the film’s protagonist. <o:p></o:p></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-62470350227476509382010-08-15T21:03:00.000+01:002010-08-15T21:03:06.560+01:00News Review - Film's true superheroes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUmL808o5pZs-E6_fhYBiBy3-6tVbJSeFQUR67f3FTtAZgs7uuJF8p98bgKB_Cs7jQlatzOZ5VrLknjTstZzPSJsM6CuVyS7fLr4679mFoBcoe_n90UagtuJQyr_4yvYwZ7AOBbgs4ItQ/s1600/FirstSuperhero.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUmL808o5pZs-E6_fhYBiBy3-6tVbJSeFQUR67f3FTtAZgs7uuJF8p98bgKB_Cs7jQlatzOZ5VrLknjTstZzPSJsM6CuVyS7fLr4679mFoBcoe_n90UagtuJQyr_4yvYwZ7AOBbgs4ItQ/s1600/FirstSuperhero.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<blockquote>More than a reflection of society and culture, moving images are primary documents that can serve a wide range of research purposes. The director Sydney Pollack has said that cinema is “the most vivid and valuable record of who we were and what we were, and what we thought and what we believed. And it continues to be that.” As our culture is increasingly shaped by visual images in the digital age, historians may soon rely on moving images as much as on the printed word to understand 21st century culture. In a sense, by relying more and more on moving images to understand the times in which we live, society is increasingly reverting back to its roots grounded in oral tradition.</blockquote><blockquote>Whether it’s classic Hollywood feature films, 20th century newsreels, documentaries, classic television or home movies of Billy’s fifth birthday, it is important to preserve our visual heritage."<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">This quote, from the <a href="http://www.amianet.org/">AMIA</a>’s (The Association of Moving Image Archivists</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">) homepage, asserts the still underappreciated importance of film preservation. Without the work and knowledge base that film archivists and film preservationists possess, we would lose invaluable visual documents that are indispensable for current and future generations. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">This article hopes to draw readers’ attentions to the incredible work that film’s true superheroes do, often without a hint of recognition.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We will start by looking at an exciting online wiki project; that among other things, is attempting to identify a plethora of films that remain nameless. <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2257833/">Slate</a> recently drew attention to their project.</span></div><blockquote>But if you find one of those rusting, unlabeled canisters ... then what?</blockquote><blockquote>It's a question that drives the extraordinary German site<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.lost-films.eu/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Lost Films</span></a>. Begun in December 2008 by the Berlin museum Deutsche Kinemathek, it's a collaborative effort with other archives that now encompasses an astonishing range of films: The more than 4,000 movies listed as M.I.A. range from an actual jazz-era version of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><img border="0" height="11" src="file:///C:/Users/AMANAN~1/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image002.gif" v:shapes="smartLink1" width="12" /><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0016938/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">The Great Gatsby</span></a>(1926) to a re-enactment of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><img border="0" height="11" src="file:///C:/Users/AMANAN~1/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image002.gif" v:shapes="smartLink2" width="12" /><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0002669/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">The Battle of Gettysburg</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(1913) staged while the veterans were still alive. But even more curious is the site's<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.lost-films.eu/identify" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">"Identify" section</span></a>—an open call to other museums and the public to I.D. films that sometimes survive without title cards, without canister labels, without so much as a cast or director or country of origin.</blockquote><blockquote>"For a working film archive, unidentified films pose a much more urgent question," explains Kinemathek staffer Oliver Hanley in an e-mail. Not knowing what scripts or other contextual materials to consult makes these orphans nearly impossible to preserve properly. As Hanley notes, "To the public, it renders them lost already."</blockquote><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">One cannot speak highly enough of this project as it attempting to bring together the vast knowledge base of film lovers and historians the world over, to help identify films that have been forgotten for vast periods of time as well as hunting down the thousands of films that we have records of but are now missing. Take a look at <a href="https://www.lost-films.eu/identify">this page</a>, which has pictures from a variety of films; you never know, you might help preserve a film by identifying a film that no-one before you has been able to name. Furthermore, here is<a href="https://www.lost-films.eu/contribute"> more information</a> about how you can contribute towards this important project.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The next piece concerns perhaps the most important part of the film preservation process: the pain-staking restoration of classic film. This <a href="http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20100718/ENT01/7180313">in-depth piece</a> from DemocratandChronicle.com, which I implore you to read in its entirety, takes an in depth look at George Eastman House:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><blockquote>George Eastman House helps preserve and repair these tattered objects, often more than a century old. Its six film technicians restore up to 200 films annually. Their quiet rescue mission reaches Hollywood studios and film archives around the world.</blockquote><blockquote>"Last year, we could have circled the Earth with that footage," says Edward Stratmann, associate curator of motion pictures.</blockquote><blockquote>The museum revives many films at their last gasp. An estimated 90 percent of silent-era movies already have vanished. Others are dying "the death of 1,000 cuts" with tears, stains and fading.</blockquote><blockquote>"It we don't act, sometimes it might be too late," says Caroline Frick Page, curator for the motion picture department.</blockquote><blockquote>When they<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>do<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>act — on rare screen tests for<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Gone With the Wind<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(1939), for example, or the first full-length movie of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Huckleberry Finn<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(1920) — a part of film or art history is saved both for posterity and practical use. The Eastman House gets constant inquiries from studios looking to make DVDs from restored prints.</blockquote><blockquote>The museum also is training the next generation of preservation experts through two pioneering programs.</blockquote><blockquote>The L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation, launched in 1996, has trained more than 130 motion picture archivists in 19 countries. Its dozen incoming students each year will learn how to preserve and restore movies, engaging in lab work and archiving courses. It offers both master's and certificate programs.”</blockquote><div style="margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">George Eastman House not only restores up to 200 films a year, but they have also trained more than 130 motion picture archivists in 19 countries. Having complained in an<a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/07/news-review-80-of-european-silent-films.html"> earlier article</a> about what I perceived as a lack of initiative and awareness when it came to film preservation and film restoration, it is delightful to learn of the indispensable work that one institution is partaking in to ensure that these important visual documents are not consigned to history. The fact that they are training archivists in countries which may have a far inferior knowledge base when it comes to film preservation can only bode well for the survival of early film in unheralded parts of the world. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">As with almost every conceivable topic one can imagine, there is a wealth of information available in regards to film preservation available online, that we can use to deepen our knowledge and understanding of the field. For example, over at the <a href="http://bufvc.ac.uk/faf/guidance.htm">Film Archive Forum</a> , there is some extremely useful information on the topic, for example:</div><blockquote><a href="" name="access"><b>Preservation copies</b></a></blockquote><blockquote>Additionally, due to the fragility of film and video, it is often necessary to make copies for preservation purposes. This may be e.g. to transfer from nitrate to ‘safety’ film, to transfer from acetate ‘safety’ film which is suffering acetic deterioration (commonly called) Vinegar Syndrome) or to retrieve content from obsolete formats. In this case, the new copy should also be treated as a master, replacing or supplementing the original. Wherever possible, any new master replacing an original should be on an appropriate format eg a new master from a title originating on film should usually also be on film of an equivalent format, even though the viewing copy may be video or digital. A new master taken from an obsolete format should be on to a current format of equivalent or greater quality</blockquote><span style="mso-bookmark: access;">I was unaware that preservation copies of fragile films and videos are made for preservation purposes. If we increase our basic knowledge of the basics of film preservation, not only can we increase our understanding of the methodology behind the field, but hopefully such knowledge will encourage more people to go into the field as well argue its cause when it comes to ensuring that film preservationists receive more funds. </span><br />
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<span style="mso-bookmark: access;"></span> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">If you share my interest in this field, please retweet, facebook, digg or whatever method you use to increase awareness in regards to this article and more importantly, this often overlooked aspect of the film business. Also, if you have any links or information which you would care to share in regards to this field, please post a comment below.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">To conclude, here is another excerpt from the DemorcratandChronicle piece:</span></div><blockquote><span class="apple-converted-space">... </span><span class="apple-style-span">Restoration work tends to be anonymous, intensely technical and glacially slow. It demands</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span">Sitzfleisch: German slang for gluing your backside to a seat for hours at a time.</span></blockquote><blockquote>"Today, a polyester film base can last up to 500 years — longer than any CD," Haidet says. "We don't get our names attached to this work: it's a group effort. But I feel that we're doing something for posterity."</blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-746960573208403062010-08-10T20:39:00.000+01:002010-08-10T20:39:51.077+01:001908 - A Very Fine Lady - Louis Feuillade<object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Qgu6NXulC1U&hl=en_GB&fs=1?rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Qgu6NXulC1U&hl=en_GB&fs=1?rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Today, Louis Feuillade is primarily remembered for his pioneering work on the serial thrillers Fantomas (1913) and Les Vampires (1915). However, the scope of Feuillade’s influence was broader and deeper than is currently remembered. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In 1905, Feuillade started to sell screenplays to Gaumont, who at the time were the second largest film company in France after Pathé. He was recruited by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Guy">Alice Guy</a>, the pioneering film maker who was responsible for Gaumont’s growth during its formative years. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Given that by 1910, two-thirds of worldwide film production was produced by French companies, this was a remarkably influential position to hold, the likes of which there is no modern equivalent of today. The likes of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abel_Gance">Abel Gance</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0097918/">Romeo Bosetti</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_L'Herbier">Marcel L’Herbier</a> worked at Gaumont while he was creative director at Gaumont. Feuillade was also a prolific director; before his death in 1925, he made close to 700 films.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A Very Fine Lady demonstrates Feuillade’s versatility and will surprise those who only know Feuillade through Fantomas and Les Vampires. The film is a simple comedy that owes a significant debt to the early work of Max Linder. Linder’s growing popularity meant that there was demand for more comedy films, but they needed to combine slapstick with a sense of adventure. A Very Fine Lady is as humorous as any of Linder's early films, successfully structuring its comedy around a single conceit. If the film has a weakness, it is that it tails off slightly as it reaches is its climax. But overall, it is a highly amusing film that should have the ability to win over any silent film sceptics that you know. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A Very Fine Lady follows a beautiful young woman and traces the trouble and fuss she creates among the male population. What makes the film enjoyable is the manner in which the scenarios on display become both increasingly absurd and funny; starting with a shop keeper pouring a bucket water the wrong way (see image above) and reaching its comic peak with a man taking out another gentleman with a large plank of wood, as his sight is distracted by the pretty lady as she walks by (see image below)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We also have one of cinema’s first allusions to an earlier film. As the young lady walks past a gardener watering a public park, you are reminded of one of the Lumiere Brothers’ first films, <i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frl0K09o-KA">Le Jardinier (l'Arroseur Arrosé) </a>(1895)</i><i>, </i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">where a similar gag is played with a hose pipe </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">(see image below)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">.</span> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The film is also the first example that we have of the ‘male voyeur's gaze’. In her landmark 1975 essay, <a href="https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/MarkTribe/Visual+Pleasure+and+Narrative+Cinema">Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema </a>, Laura Mulvey stated that:</span></div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The image of woman as (passive) raw material for the (active) gaze of man takes the argument a step further into the structure of representation, adding a further layer demanded by the ideology of the patriarchal order as it is worked out in its favorite cinematic form - illusionistic narrative film. The argument returns again to the psychoanalytic background in that woman as representation signifies castration, inducing voyeuristic or fetishistic mechanisms to circumvent her threat. None of these interacting layers is intrinsic to film, but it is only in the film form that they can reach a perfect and beautiful contradiction, thanks to the possibility in the cinema of shifting the emphasis of the look. It is the place of the look that defines cinema, the possibility of varying it and exposing it. This is what makes cinema quite different in its voyeuristic potential from, say, strip-tease, theatre, shows, etc. Going far beyond highlighting a woman's to-be-looked-at-ness, cinema builds the way she is to be looked at into the spectacle itself.</span></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I have always felt that Mulvey’s argument is over-exaggerated and slightly dated, but she certainly raises an interesting debate which I think is well worthwhile pursuing. And although A Very Fine Lady is a straightforward comedy, there is no denying that if we were to apply Mulvey’s reading to film, the genealogy of the ‘male voyeur's gaze’ can be traced back to this film. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ8tkntWf3eLtWhD0cI-gnBEA_NzaPqjyJnhCrfzjMQFrsL3GeecXEa935rLXMde8NMMmPDa9AuxS6NJY4lazojUAWvYabmOpVFPjtKz3BZ8k-eZPc8O8qAejzouPvMiDJfSywiLLpZ1g/s1600/AVFLady+-+blatant+stare.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ8tkntWf3eLtWhD0cI-gnBEA_NzaPqjyJnhCrfzjMQFrsL3GeecXEa935rLXMde8NMMmPDa9AuxS6NJY4lazojUAWvYabmOpVFPjtKz3BZ8k-eZPc8O8qAejzouPvMiDJfSywiLLpZ1g/s320/AVFLady+-+blatant+stare.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">For example, returning to the hosepipe scene, the sexual innuendo of the gardener’s hosepipe ushering a fountain of water as the lady walks by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">(see image below)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;"> could be interpreted as adding weight to Mulvey’s assertion.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Film: Ab Initio will return to her argument and the above quote in more detail, when the idea of the ‘male voyeur's gaze’ is found in later films, and it will be interesting to see how well Mulvey’s hypothesis holds (particularly in relation to the Hitchcock films, Vertigo and Rear Window, that Mulvey's argument is predominantly aimed at).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A Very Fine Lady is a fine foray into the world of film making by Feuillade, and it will be interesting to observe the genesis of his directorial skills over the next ten years or so. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-60786311486632101522010-08-06T18:30:00.000+01:002010-08-06T18:30:30.843+01:00The first successful Shakespeare adaptation - 1908 - The Tempest - Percy Stow<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMbeZn0Af4eLi7EI6WOho4mHFnMFgesmYXmkhIUneHQ82NxvFjRf69ZKV0Sk1CqayLbUwpA_D_XEHH6UkZrEWCeKF5wAeVW7fY1e-EXuI0-GVny4BPSYepFA59VJANxeS6FayE1YZgA8A/s1600/TheTempest+1908+-+Caliban+scares+Ariel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMbeZn0Af4eLi7EI6WOho4mHFnMFgesmYXmkhIUneHQ82NxvFjRf69ZKV0Sk1CqayLbUwpA_D_XEHH6UkZrEWCeKF5wAeVW7fY1e-EXuI0-GVny4BPSYepFA59VJANxeS6FayE1YZgA8A/s320/TheTempest+1908+-+Caliban+scares+Ariel.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Is the concept of a silent Shakespeare film an oxymoron? Absolutely not, I would argue. Shakespeare’s language is a crucial ingredient of his dramatic works, but far too often in recent cinematic adaptations it has been over-emphasised. There is a visceral visual element to many of the key works of Shakespeare that film can capture in a way that the theatre cannot. For example, my favourite cinematic Shakespeare moment involves no language at all: it is when Macbeth has been slain by a sheaf of arrows that pin him against a door in Kurosawa’s 1957 film Throne of Blood (I will have a lot more to say about this scene when we eventually get round to looking at the film). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Percy Stowe’s The Tempest is an extremely brave adaptation of its source material. With the film running at around twelve minutes, Stowe had very little scope to convey the plot of the play. However, limitation often breeds innovation, and the limited running time of the film allowed Stowe to concentrate on the key visual moments of the play. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Yet unlike with his earlier 1903 collaborative effort <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/06/1903-alice-in-wonderland-cecil-hepworth.html">Alice in Wonderland</a></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">, which Film: Ab Initio described as ‘enjoyable, charming but lightweight’, The Tempest is a more significant and substantial film. Whereas Alice in Wonderland picked a selection of moments from Carol’s work that felt episodic, with The Tempest, Stowe skilfully constructs a narrative thread that allows the film to have a more cohesive feel to it. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">This is partially to do with Stowe’s development as a film maker, but Stowe also owes a significant debt to the rapid speed with which film was developing as a medium. Since 1903, film had witnessed its first superstar (Max Linder), ventured into the world of animation and tackled key historical events in films such as <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/06/1905-la-presa-di-roma-taking-of-rome.html">La Presa Di Roma</a> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">and <a href="http://filmabinitio.blogspot.com/2010/07/first-dramatic-russian-film-1908-stenka.html">Stenka Razin</a></span>. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Although the film leaves out some of the play’s major plotlines, the film is complete enough in itself to convey the narrative threads it does follow to someone who had not read the play (although there is no denying that a viewing of the film, as with any Shakespeare film, is enriched if one has read the play beforehand). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The film’s major success is its portrayal of Ariel. When Ferdinand chases Ariel in the film and she disappears using a simple Mélièsian trick, film has another one of its pivotal moments. This moment crystallises the difference between theatre and film; to put it simply, film can do things that theatre cannot. Although this is not the first time such a moment occurs in film history, given that it happens during the adaptation of a Shakespeare play, it explicitly confirms that film is developing in a separate direction to theatre. And this point extends beyond technical differences; it allows film to accentuate different emotional currents through such visual trickery. Ariel’s ‘disappearances’ in this scene (see image below) highlights the playful nature of Ariel, and more importantly, Ferdinand. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I have seen an awful production of The Tempest where Ferdinand was played in a dry, one-dimensional manner; this film gives the character more colour and depth in twelve minutes than that production managed to do so in two and a half hours!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">From the perspective of film history, Ariel is also interesting because she is a Méliès visual trick that is removed from the confines of his studio and transposed onto a naturalistic setting. The most impressive Mélièsian trickery, however, is saved for when Prospero shipwrecks the King of Naples’ ship. I am surprised that the image is not more iconic (see image below).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaVpJoAPtrs3zj10W5w1bOQqVfOd1KZufmkGRuPhoOgBLiOBnOCVkM69VqsVoiB9ircMzBnqO_KV6ba7gsPFJ588XFDRKW-vC-072rIg0ERY1pgYjFQXTyaEQljzS_RlrU8QNTaYfzqbc/s1600/TheTempest+1908+-+Prospero+shipwrecks+boat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaVpJoAPtrs3zj10W5w1bOQqVfOd1KZufmkGRuPhoOgBLiOBnOCVkM69VqsVoiB9ircMzBnqO_KV6ba7gsPFJ588XFDRKW-vC-072rIg0ERY1pgYjFQXTyaEQljzS_RlrU8QNTaYfzqbc/s320/TheTempest+1908+-+Prospero+shipwrecks+boat.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The bfi’s <a href="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/441308/index.html">screenonline</a> is in agreement as to the quality of the film, though it also notes that the film’s attempts to uncover the cinematic qualities of Shakespeare’s text were not followed:<o:p></o:p></span></div><blockquote>Comfortably the most visually imaginative and cinematically adventurous silent British<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><cite><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Shakespeare</span></cite><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>film,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><cite><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Percy Stow</span></cite>'s<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><cite><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">The Tempest</span></cite><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(1908) takes a different approach from that of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><cite><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Dickson</span></cite>'s 1899 film of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><cite><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">King John</span></cite>, in that it attempts a complete précis of the entire play staged specifically for the cameras...</blockquote><blockquote>Curiously, though, no-one seems to have built on its lead, as all surviving silent Shakespeare films have tended to be as stagebound as those made by<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><cite><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Stow</span></cite>'s predecessors -<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><cite><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Frank Benson</span></cite>'s<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><cite><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Richard III</span></cite><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(1911) being typical.</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9wplbZ1UZ6v4Ggy5NBJrWhzo_SeqQARSHMuVx5AdPrFGM5kVEMKwWvMXg_gDlve9lBBT_qoYQWFovLdVvM3_BtiuE6_HUV6J2O3RgATPbTz_BRBaMeAFpBbZUQL1ZRT7iPeNSWXekJ6c/s1600/TheTempest+1908+-+Ferdinand+arrives+ashore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9wplbZ1UZ6v4Ggy5NBJrWhzo_SeqQARSHMuVx5AdPrFGM5kVEMKwWvMXg_gDlve9lBBT_qoYQWFovLdVvM3_BtiuE6_HUV6J2O3RgATPbTz_BRBaMeAFpBbZUQL1ZRT7iPeNSWXekJ6c/s320/TheTempest+1908+-+Ferdinand+arrives+ashore.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Film: Ab Initio will carefully monitor the progress of adaptations of Shakespeare’s works; with Stow’s The Tempest, film has made a promising start.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZByC7Uc7crBXb1zxNnzXq7ze5PtcS8REMF7_J1oQbcuYrs3LyUWqpQjc7KWv_EgL4lhDugzlWNa4NLvMWNDqlGTqxeYphqNiREWabskHOq-YJNMyEXaH3nhp5IDD5uyaqK_B7gkMLXSE/s1600/TheTempest+1908+-+Everyone+leaves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZByC7Uc7crBXb1zxNnzXq7ze5PtcS8REMF7_J1oQbcuYrs3LyUWqpQjc7KWv_EgL4lhDugzlWNa4NLvMWNDqlGTqxeYphqNiREWabskHOq-YJNMyEXaH3nhp5IDD5uyaqK_B7gkMLXSE/s320/TheTempest+1908+-+Everyone+leaves.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
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</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Note: </span></span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Unfortunately, the film for The Tempest cannot be found online, it can only be found on the bfi’s DVD <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Silent-Shakespeare/dp/6305869383/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1281115778&sr=1-1">Silent Shakespeare</a>. It is well worth the purchase, and contains several other Shakespeare films that this blog will cover. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-13261428325270773192010-08-01T00:23:00.000+01:002010-08-01T00:23:05.173+01:00D.W. Griffith's Directorial Debut - 1908 The Adventures of Dollie - D.W. Griffith<object height="340" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cYQCTEYjYDA&hl=en_GB&fs=1?rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cYQCTEYjYDA&hl=en_GB&fs=1?rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">It is a common mistake to over-emphasise the importance of a major artist’s first work, particularly when it is framed in the context of his oeuvre rather than the period he was working in. In a <a href="http://www.classicalnotes.net/griffith/dollie.html">thoroughly comprehensive piece</a> on The Adventures of Dollie, Peter Gutmann of Classical Notes overstates the importance of the film:</span></div><blockquote>The Adventures of Dollie<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>is assured of a permanent niche in the annals of art if only because it was the first movie directed by D. W. Griffith, arguably the most important director in the history of cinema. Yet, it is far more significant than a mere historical anecdote – as the starting point from which Griffith’s genius would flow it provides a baseline against which his remarkable achievements can be measured.</blockquote><blockquote>Among other first works, Griffith’s first movie leans more toward the technically competent<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span">but wholly imitative juvenilia of Mozart than the early works of Beethoven, in which glimmers of a mature, confident and innovative artist are already evident. (Or, to take two extreme examples from the world of film, contrast the soft-core porn that launched the careers of so many famous directors and stars with the astounding brilliance of Orson Welles’</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span">Citizen Kane</span><span class="apple-style-span">.) But even considering that film, by its nature, necessarily is a collaborative art that forecloses most private experimentation and development before embarking on a feature project, Griffith’s first film hardly sprung out of a void.</span> </blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">(Before I deconstruct the above quote, it must be said that the majority of Gutmann’s piece is an essential read - particularly in regards to providing biographical information in regards to Griffith’s life when he made the film)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTVdAP3Mijf5ge-m-3xi6T9lCE4H7Uo9QzNdT2dMZTNUblm1SyFKUrXM1iSwEi9xe_bDI0aHDXqz8dDiZjYU6kh86jQkQYwUnCY6jnyPmhA8E82stZ2p0STrl2wk37lhPPc_2iLnClG38/s1600/The+Adventures+of+Dollie+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTVdAP3Mijf5ge-m-3xi6T9lCE4H7Uo9QzNdT2dMZTNUblm1SyFKUrXM1iSwEi9xe_bDI0aHDXqz8dDiZjYU6kh86jQkQYwUnCY6jnyPmhA8E82stZ2p0STrl2wk37lhPPc_2iLnClG38/s1600/The+Adventures+of+Dollie+poster.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I am wholly unconvinced that Griffith is ‘the most important director in the history of cinema’. In fact, one of my major complaints with misconceptions of film in the second decade of the twentiethcentury is that it is viewed as being ‘Griffith’s decade’ and that he alone was moving film into the realm of the feature film and the more naturalistic style of film making that we are accustomed to today. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
The framing of The Adventures of Dollie ‘<span style="color: black;">as the starting point from which Griffith’s genius would flow it provides a baseline against which his remarkable achievements can be measured’ burdens this pleasant film </span><br />
<span style="color: black;">with expectations it cannot live up to.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">The Adventures of Dollie involves a gypsy kidnapping a young girl named Dollie in order to seek revenge against Dollie’s father, who had earlier attacked the gypsy for harassing his young family. The plot is almost identical to Hepworth’s 1905 film <a href="http://draft.blogger.com/(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlhNxHfyWTU">Rescued by Rover</a> </span>and quite similar Griffith’s acting debut <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lflJ6ZVKgo">Rescued from an Eagle</a>’s Nest. <br />
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It is a film firmly rooted in its era’s conventions and genres. When we observe the film from this perspective rather trying to ponder whether it is more like the early works of Mozart or Beethoven, a more balanced reading of the film can be obtained. And the film does contain some impressive moments which suggest Griffith will go on to become a substantial director. The shot of the reflection of the surroundings before the horse drawn cart pounds into the water is elegant; the sequence of the film where the barrel rolls down the river adds a layer of suspense while also being an attractive framework for the sequence. <br />
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There is a logical flaw in an important part of the set up of the film. When the gypsy hides Dollie in the barrel, surely Dollie would have made some sort of noise to alert the search party she had coming looking for her?<br />
Given the sheer inventiveness of several of the recent films we have looked at (e.g. the lightning-paced animation of Fantasmagorie, the birth of slapstick in Début d'un Patineur, etc.s), the Adventures of Dollie feels slightly underwhelming. <br />
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The Early & Silent film blog provides us with some useful information about the film as well as detailing its instant success:<br />
<blockquote>The biography by Richard Schickel [D. W. Griffith An American Life, Touchstone Book 1984) we learn that Griffith directed his first one reel film for Biograph after receiving advice from the veteran cameraman Billy Bitzer. Bitzer was later to become a stalwart of the Griffith production team. The film was taken from a written synopsis at Biograph. Griffith was able to cast the film himself. The cameraman was a Biograph regular, Arthur Marvin. It was he who suggested the locations for the film. The filming took two days. And a month later it was released with apparent success. Biograph still sold its films outright at this period, before a rental system had fully developed. The best total for a film to that date was fifteen prints; The Adventures of Dollie sold twenty-five prints, a new house record.</blockquote><span class="apple-style-span">It is always interesting to learn about a major film maker’s collaborators as it provides the viewer with a more complete understanding of the creative genesis of a movie. The film was written by Stanner E.V. Taylor; it was his first writing credit – he would go on to write and direct films until 1929. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span class="apple-style-span">The commercial success of the film does suggest that Griffith had an intuitive sense of what the audience wanted to observe in the new medium of film. As with many commercially successful films that would follow in its steps for the next 102 years, the film plays on the fears of the middle classes as well as having a simple good-evil dichotomy. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span class="apple-style-span">The Adventures of Dollie is a solid yet unspectacular venture into filmmaking for Griffith. It will be interesting to observe him hone and develop his craft over the next decade. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-35959683229732991272010-07-27T23:07:00.000+01:002010-07-27T23:07:59.131+01:00News Review - The Death of British Cinema? UK Film Council is scrapped by the British Govt.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh20zClaK9GSgjYan1dlN6yhH-NbsixImfzj_HqnV3aBWjfRWG9w06l5BZfi_ASdiQO7lQ-if9TxcKJNlTm7GtJNCCsFU9c28F_O05_FRPJI-oc_A63ZI-zceGRYkKJtHLcKv51Xfy4F4s/s1600/Hitchcock+-+Hanging.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh20zClaK9GSgjYan1dlN6yhH-NbsixImfzj_HqnV3aBWjfRWG9w06l5BZfi_ASdiQO7lQ-if9TxcKJNlTm7GtJNCCsFU9c28F_O05_FRPJI-oc_A63ZI-zceGRYkKJtHLcKv51Xfy4F4s/s320/Hitchcock+-+Hanging.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that “a</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span><em><span style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">creative economy</span></span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">is the fuel of</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span><em><span style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">magnificence</span></span></em><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.” Yesterday’s announcement that the Tory government is abolishing the U.K. Film Council confirms the suspicion that many of us Brits have in regards to their complete inability to support the arts and therefore understand Emerson’s astute point. The arts are one of Britain’s strongest exports, and as one of the articles from below will point out, the UKFC has seen the films they have invested money in over the last decade make an average profit of 400%. The UKFC has financially backed films with an array of diversity: Gosford Park, Streetdance 3D, The Constant Gardener, Bend it Like Beckham, Bright Star, etc. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We were willing to throw money at banks which were haemorrhaging money, but we can no longer provide what is a paltry sum in terms of the government’s annual budget for a public body that was and is a terrific financial success? If you think that government’s decision is incorrect, then please sign this <a href="http://www.gopetition.co.uk/petitions/save-the-uk-film-council.html">petition</a> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and get your friends to do so as well. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This decision could also be a bellwether for Britain's long term future as a major economy. Whereas India are spending $140 million to restore their classic films, the British government can no longer afford to spend £15 million a year to help produce <i>current </i>films. Could this be the beginning of the end for British cinema? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The decision is short-sighted and foolish; it will have devastating effects for the long term future of an already dwindling British Industry – in 2003 there were 74 independent features made in the UK, last year there were only 40. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://bestforfilm.com/film-blog/save-the-uk-film-council/">Best For Film</a> set up the petition, and they go into more details in regards to the figures, thus demonstrating the buffoonery of Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"></div><blockquote>The UK film industry is one of our few sectors which has enjoyed consistent growth throughout the recession. Last year, its contribution to the economy was an extraordinary £4.3 billion – an increase of 50% on 2000, the year the UKFC was formed. UKFC-funded films have grossed in excess of £700 million worldwide, and its investments garner an average profit of 400%. Sorry, I’ll say that again – FOUR HUNDRED PER CENT. That’s £5 for every £1 you spend, and I defy any of Jeremy Hunt’s colleagues in the state-owned banks to offer us as good a rate.</blockquote><blockquote><span class="apple-style-span">Incredibly, the UKFC manages all this on a budget of only £15 million a year, much of which is money drawn from the countrywide tax on hope which is the National Lottery. This is compared to the £12 million being spent on the Pope’s controversial UK visit later this year, or the</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="border-color: initial; border-width: initial;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">£7 billion</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span">which it’s costing us to host the Olympics – at its present budget, that’s enough money to run the UKFC for almost 467 years. Jeremy Hunt’s claims that destroying the UKFC was a cost-cutting measure are clearly specious, betraying his motives to be ideological rather than financial; for unclear reasons of its own, in attacking both the Film Council and the licence fee which funds the BBC the Conservative Party is holding a knife to the throat of contemporary British culture.</span></blockquote><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The article is absolutely correct to call out Jeremy Hunt’s claim that ‘destroying the UKFC was a cost-cutting measure’. The figures do not lie and it begs the question as to why they are demolishing such a profitable organisation. It may well be that they are making cuts for the sake of making cuts, because the sum invested in the UKFC will not help our economic recovery. Or perhaps David Cameron’s ‘Big Society’ involves a world where we are all volunteers and none of us are artists?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmxXmS4jt1-5wIbku0vodjnMd3Bnc3_YGc2lqKpNDEPkHq0GVassJp_JR5IpLy6i-k8qXWwNCGpli9rAtFyTstU__EqfyaNks_iIz0mMlx749p2OgdxBra2EanTYy8E5RGMK1JN7HxgLc/s1600/jeremy-hunt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmxXmS4jt1-5wIbku0vodjnMd3Bnc3_YGc2lqKpNDEPkHq0GVassJp_JR5IpLy6i-k8qXWwNCGpli9rAtFyTstU__EqfyaNks_iIz0mMlx749p2OgdxBra2EanTYy8E5RGMK1JN7HxgLc/s320/jeremy-hunt.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <i>Jeremy Hunt - the man who could be responsible for destroying the British film industry.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/7911246/Mike-Leigh-scrapping-UK-Film-Council-is-like-abolishing-the-NHS.html">The Telegraph</a> reports Mike Leigh’s outrage </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">at the decision:<o:p></o:p></span></div><blockquote>Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, said that the abolition of the council would wipe out a layer of bureaucracy and ensure ''greater value for money''.</blockquote><blockquote>But Leigh, whose credits include<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Happy-Go-Lucky and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Vera Drake, described the decision as "extremely worrying" and "totally out of the blue".</blockquote><blockquote>He said: "It's very hard to know what they are actually going to sustain and what they will abandon. It really is no way to operate.</blockquote><blockquote>''It's like if they suddenly said: 'We're abolishing the NHS' ... It's totally out of order.''</blockquote><blockquote>The UK Film Council was created in 2000, and has invested more than £160 million of Lottery funding into more than 900 films which has helped generate over £700 million at the worldwide box office.</blockquote><blockquote>It receives £30 million a year of Lottery money and around £25.5 million from the Government. </blockquote><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Leigh calls out another one of Hunt’s hollow phrases as it is unclear to all of us how the government will proceed and exactly how they intend to get a better return than they are already receiving. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2010/jul/26/uk-film-council-axe?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter">Andrew Pulver</a> describes the move </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> as both a ‘hammer blow’ and ‘tragically naive’. His article is well worth reading in its entirety:</span></div><blockquote>It was nothing short of a hammer blow. This morning, word came through of John Woodward's email to UK Film Council staff informing them that the government was planning to shut them down. Then the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) confirmed it in a written statement at lunchtime. I was genuinely shocked. It felt like I'd nipped out for 10 minutes to get a pie and while I was out they closed the British film industry...</blockquote><blockquote>I can't help feeling that this is a tragically naive decision by the government. I've spent a significant amount of my time as a Guardian film journalist reporting on the various attempts to disburse lottery funding, which began in the mid-1990s. To summarise: first it was directly administered by the Arts Council, on a project-by-project basis, in the same way as theatre shows or brass bands. This setup was clearly inadequate– for keeping out both naive amateurs who wasted the money and smart operators who just ripped them off. In 1997 the franchise system was dreamed up. This meant established outfits would band together, offer a slate of projects, and be given a large amount of money. That system proved unwieldy and unworkable. It was quietly abandoned when the Film Council was set up in 2000 to operate like a mini studio, allowed to invest in big films (Gosford Park, The Constant Gardener) and also help out with small (Better Things, Red Road), as well as funding ancillary activities like the Independent Cinema Office, print and advertising assistance, and digital projection. The Film Council was essentially the most sophisticated method found so far to deal with the lottery money, and I simply don't believe any existing body will do a better job.</blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If the system returns to films being approved on a case by case basis it will surely once again prove to be inadequate. The lack of a concrete proposal for a replacement for the UKFC is of great concern.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-10773821">BBC </a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">makes clear that although the BFI may be asked to do the UKFC’s work, they may not have the capacity to do so:<o:p></o:p></span></div><blockquote>What remains unclear, however, is who or what will distribute lottery money after its proposed closure in 2012.</blockquote><blockquote>The British Film Institute, the organisation charged with preserving and promoting the nation's film and television heritage, would seem the most likely candidate.</blockquote><blockquote>The body is directly funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and was mentioned by Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt as he made Monday's announcement.</blockquote><blockquote>Last year it was reported the BFI and UK Film Council might merge in order to create what the DCMS called "a streamlined organisation".</blockquote><blockquote>Some at the BFI were said to be unhappy with the proposals, concerned they might come off worse were the bodies to combine operations.</blockquote><blockquote>Earlier this year the BFI lost the £45m funding it had been promised by the last government for a new film centre on London's South Bank.</blockquote><blockquote>How equipped is the BFI to take on the complex and time-consuming business of distributing public funds to film producers?</blockquote><blockquote>But damage will be done, and what’s most at risk is the continued existence of film in the UK, not as an entertainment medium but as a practised artform. Specifically, the prospects for British film-makers with ambitions to create truly great cinema seem very bleak indeed...</blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yet <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/27/axing-uk-film-council-rethink-british-film">Daniel Trilling</a> of The Guardian </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">suggests the decision to scrap the UKFC is a good idea:</span></div><blockquote>We should not, though, let the shock of this announcement stop us seeing the shortcomings as well as the successes of the movie-making culture fostered by the UKFC in its 10 years of existence. A key element of Labour's arts programme, the organisation took its structural cue from the City, with executive salaries well above the industry norm. Using a mix of lottery money and direct government subsidy, the UKFC has spent more than £300m – and the tax credit system it promoted has indeed enabled a commercial renaissance.</blockquote><blockquote>...According to the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2009/12/breaking-the-british-movie-myth/" style="background-repeat: no-repeat;" title="Prospect: Breaking the British movie myth"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">critic and producer Colin MacCabe</span></a>, the UKFC's "aggressive commercial strategy" has frequently stifled creativity. Organisations like the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1348538/index.html" style="background-repeat: no-repeat;" title="British Film Institute Production Board"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">British Film Institute Production Board</span></a>, which funded experimental films, were abolished to make way for it, and the UKFC has often insisted on having the final cut on films it funds.</blockquote><blockquote>The past decade has not been a creative desert – Andrea Arnold's<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><img align="baseline" blueimage="http://glueimg.s3.amazonaws.com/widgets/img/smartlinkIcon.png" blueimageover="http://glueimg.s3.amazonaws.com/widgets/img/smartlinkIcon_over.png" bluekey="" bluetype="movie" border="0" class="blue-icon-launcher blue-icon-12" height="11" link="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1232776/" publisherid="Glue_4.5.12Chrome" smartlink="null" src="file:///C:/Users/AMANAN~1/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image002.gif" style="border-color: initial; border-width: initial;" v:shapes="smartLink6" width="12" /><a bluekey="" bluelink="yes" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1232776/" style="background-repeat: no-repeat;" title="IMDB: Fish Tank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Fish Tank</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and Steve McQueen's<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><img align="baseline" blueimage="http://glueimg.s3.amazonaws.com/widgets/img/smartlinkIcon.png" blueimageover="http://glueimg.s3.amazonaws.com/widgets/img/smartlinkIcon_over.png" bluekey="" bluetype="movie" border="0" class="blue-icon-launcher blue-icon-12" height="11" link="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0986233/" publisherid="Glue_4.5.12Chrome" smartlink="null" src="file:///C:/Users/AMANAN~1/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image002.gif" v:shapes="smartLink7" width="12" /><a bluekey="" bluelink="yes" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0986233/" style="background-repeat: no-repeat;" title="IMDB: Hunger"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Hunger</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>are wonderful examples of daring British films with political bite and potential mass appeal. But the praise deservedly showered on their directors also serves as a reminder that others have been allowed to fall by the wayside. </blockquote><blockquote>In the long run, this week's announcement could be good news for British film. Money is likely to be tighter, but there is an opportunity at least to rethink what kind of films we want to emerge from Britain in the years to come. It is encouraging that the government is now looking to work directly with the BFI, whose chair, Greg Dyke, has already<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a ,="" done="" dyke="" href="http://www.screendaily.com/news/corporate/uk-ireland/merger-is-not-a-done-deal-says-bfis-dyke/5004761.article" s="" says="" style="background-repeat: no-repeat;" title="Screen Daily: Merger is not a "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">fought hard</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>to maintain the independence of his organisation.</blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If only he had seen this excellent graphic on <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/gallery/2010/jul/26/uk-film-council-funding?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter#/?picture=365202587&index=10">his own website</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, the main thrust of his argument, that the UKFC has somehow ‘stifled creativity’, he would recognise the diversity and quality of the films that they have backed is an impressive showing. When he states that ‘there is an opportunity at least to rethink what kind of films we want to emerge from Britain in the years to come’; this vague, non-committal phrase may as well have been uttered by Hunt.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Perhaps he should read <a href="http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/newsandviews/comment/rough-cuts.php">Sight and Sound’s</a> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">take on the matter, which makes clear just how much damage the scrapping of the UKFC could do to the British film industry:<o:p></o:p></span></div><blockquote>But damage will be done, and what’s most at risk is the continued existence of film in the UK, not as an entertainment medium but as a practised artform. Specifically, the prospects for British film-makers with ambitions to create truly great cinema seem very bleak indeed...</blockquote><blockquote>And what the statistical yearbook tells us is that the independent film sector in the UK – the proving ground for all young film-makers – is under increasing pressure. Where there were 74 independent features made in 2003, in 2009 there were just 40. You might say that’s natural during a recession, but then the industry is wrongly seen as recession-proof – and the R&D side of it is most emphatically not. Given the apparent success of our industrial activity, it is remarkable how very few new directorial talents have been nurtured here in the past decade. Where are the new Shane Meadowses and Lynne Ramsays, let alone the new Ridley Scotts? The answer is, of course, that they’re out there, but they haven’t had the chances to develop that their forebears enjoyed...</blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The final sentence puts the whole discussion into perspective – where will the next important British director emerge from? Where will the next Hitchock, Nolan or David Lean hone his craft?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
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</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7