Archive for July, 2011
Sunday, July 24th, 2011
Loss of Innocence
Some film historians lament that we’ll never recapture the magic of a film noir, screwball comedy, or musical comedy. There’s some truth to that, but why would you want to? Ideally, you learn the lessons from the past and apply what’s equally good from the present. That’s not possible, you say? One of the best [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Cable and DVD by DavidE
Sunday, July 24th, 2011
Fordland
When you see a list of the great westerns directed by John Ford, Wagon Master (1950) is rarely included among them. At first glance, it’s easy to see why. There are no big stars, such John Wayne or Henry Fonda, to prop up the movie. It’s less action oriented than other Ford westerns, such as [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Cable and DVD by DavidE
Sunday, July 24th, 2011
Rata-Tat-Tat
Howard Hawks is the least appreciated of the great American directors. It took the critics from the Parisian magazine Cahiers du Cinema in the 1950s to recognize the consistent style and world view behind such dissimilar films as Scarface (1932), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Air Force (1943), The Big Sleep (1946), Red River (1948), The [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Cable and DVD by DavidE
Sunday, July 24th, 2011
Emotionally Satisfying
No matter how many classic films you’ve seen, there will always be films that escape your notice. They may no longer exist (most silent films, for example). There may be rights issues (the long version of Abel Gance’s Napoleon, for example). Or you didn’t know enough about them to actively seek them out (hence this [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Cable and DVD by DavidE
Sunday, July 24th, 2011
Crowd Control
Fritz Lang’s first American film after fleeing Hitler’s Germany, Fury (1936) is a terrifying look at how good people can go bad when swayed by the darker instincts of a crowd. The incredible scenes where the mob tries to lynch an innocent man recall the workers frantically fleeing the city in Metropolis and the angry [...]