The winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1932, and featuring such greats as John Barrymore, Greta Garbo, Lionel Barrymore, and Joan Crawford in the cast, MGM’s “Grand Hotel” is a moving drama about a number of people staying at the Grand Hotel in Berlin. You may want to have tissues handy before pushing the play button.
Before this film, I had not seen many John Barrymore films. From what I had seen, “ham” seemed to be the word that came to mind. Chewing the scenery (in the figurative sense, naturally) seemed to be his trademark, and I couldn’t quite understand his stellar reputation. Although I must admit that some of his scenery chewing was entertaining to watch. He was an alcoholic with a declining career by the time he played Mercutio in “Romeo and Juliet”, one of the first films in which he acted that I recall watching (I had seen him in “The Invisible Woman” previously, but I don’t think I realized at the time who it was I was watching). The performance was, suffice it to say, very hammy. In the 1920 version of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, he was, in my opinion, quite handsome as Dr. Jekyll, and more restrained at the beginning of the film. However, before too long the haminess was running rampant. In “Twentieth Century”, the hammy scenery chewing was used for comic effect. (How many times have I used some derivative of the word ham in this paragraph? Don’t worry, I’m about finished with the term for a while.) In a small, more restrained moment of that film, however, there was something in his acting, so different from the usual histrionics (see, I didn’t use that other word!) that moved me. I decided I wanted to see more of his films. Where does “Grand Hotel” fit in? Well, you can call me a John Barrymore fan now. His restrained, emotionally nuanced, heart wrenching performance in the film amazed me.
Now, on to a little plot outline. After the credits, the film opens with an overhead shot of the hotel’s telephone operators. Next we see, one at a time, intercut shots of five of the film’s characters talking on the telephone, and hear parts of their conversations. Senf, the head porter (played by Jean Hersholt), wants news of his wife, who is going to have a baby. Otto Kringelein (played by Lionel Barrymore) wants his will torn up. He has been informed that he hasn’t long to live, and he wants to live it up at the Grand Hotel while he can, spending his savings. Preysing (played by Wallace Beery) - general director of the company for which Kringelein works - converses with his wife’s “Papa” about a merger, and a deal with a cotton company, which are apparently very important to their company. Madame Grusinskaya’s maid Suzette (played by Raphaela Ottiano) informs someone that Madame will not dance today. She seems very concerned about her. Baron von Geigen (not sure of the spelling there) (played by John Barrymore) claims he needs money or he won’t be able to stay at the hotel much longer. After the telephone shots, we see Doctor Otternshlag (played by Lewis Stone), - sitting down and holding a cigarette - who states “Grand Hotel. People coming, going, nothing ever happens.”
Next comes a shot of people walking around in the hotel, and then a marvelous overhead shot of the ground floor, with its circular reception desk, and tiers of the different floors’ balconies overlooking it. Then we are back to the ground floor. The aforementioned Baron, with his daschund on a leash, walks by, and is apparently annoyed by a lady who leans down to pet it. He scoops the dog up and carries it. As the film continues, the Baron meets and befriends Kringelein.
“I may speak to the baron anytime I see him?” asks Kringelein.
The Baron laughs and replies, “Of course Kringelein, why not?”
“Well, I mean when you’re with your smart friends?” says Kringelein.
“I haven’t any friends, Kringelein.” says the Baron, a shade of sadness in his face.
The Baron attempts to make conversation with a woman, but she is not very encouraging at first. She warms up, however, and they make a date for 5:00 tomorrow. She is Miss Flaemmchen (Played by Joan Crawford), stenographer for Mr. Preysing.
Madame Grusinskaya the ballet dancer (played by Greta Garbo) gets up from bed. She proclaims that she can’t dance tonight. She seems depressed and worn. She claims there was no applause last night. But she is convinced by her manager to go and dance. In his hotel room, the Baron talks to his dog. A man enters the room. Apparently the two are working (the Baron and the man, that is, not the dog), together with others, to steal Madame Grusinskaya’s pearls. But things take an unexpected turn.
What can I say that would do justice to John Barrymore’s performance? He displayed such a range of emotions in this role - cheerful and friendly, full of amusement and laughter, contemplative, romantic, with touches of sadness, tenderness, hardheartedness, hopefulness, and worry. He was magnificent. Lionel Barrymore did a great job in his role. It was funny to hear the actor who would later be perhaps best remembered as Mr. Potter in “It’s a Wonderful Life”, railing against “Mister Industrial Magnate Preysing”. Joan Crawford, too, was great in her role. Greta Garbo, in my opinion, overacted somewhat. Wallace Beery excelled as Preysing.
SPOILER ALERT!!!! I had a feeling John Barrymore’s character might die, but I was surprised by the way it happened. Lionel Barrymore and Joan Crawford, in their scene together in the hotel room after the Baron’s death - when Kringelein breaks down at the telephone, and Miss Flaemshen takes it and talks, although she, too, is crying - I found very moving. I was crying along with them. END SPOILER ALERT
Some time I think I would like to do a more in-depth commentary on John Barrymore’s acting in this film. Despite the Baron being a crook, having a skewed code of conduct, and a crippling sense of pride, Barrymore infused the character with such warmth and dimension that it is easy to care about him and get “caught up” in his plight.
Oh, and this is the film where Garbo uttered her famous line - “I want to be alone.” :)
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Saturday, November 8, 2014
Review of “The Wolf Man” (1941)
“Even a man who is pure in heart
and says his prayers by night,
May become a wolf when the wolf bane blooms,
and the autumn moon is bright.”
So goes the poem about the wolf man legend that is featured prominently in this film.
In 1941, Universal started shooting “The Wolf Man” Unlike “Dracula”, Frankenstein”, and “The Invisible Man”, “The Wolf Man” was not a screen adaptation of a novel. It was rather based on werewolf legends, with some “new legends” thought up by screenwriter Curt Siodmak - including the poem at the beginning of this post. Lon Chaney Jr. (birth name Creighton Chaney), son of famous silent horror actor Lon Chaney, got the part of Larry Talbot. Makeup artist Jack Pierce did the wolf man makeup.
Instead of just names, the credits at the beginning of “The Wolf Man” show pictures of main characters along with the actor or actress’s names and the roles they played. Following this are the credits for screenplay, directors and so on. The film opens with a shot of a row of encyclopedias. One is taken and opened, and we see an entry on “LYCANTHROPY”. In the nest scene, Larry Talbot is being chauffeured to Talbot Castle. Upon arrival he is greeted by Sir John Talbot (Claude Rains). Larry is Sir John’s son, returned from America after the death of his older brother.
Later, up in the observatory, Larry works on a telescope. He looks through the telescope at the town, and focuses in on an open window through which a pretty girl can be seen. The girl puts on an earring. Seeing that the window is above an antique shop, Larry goes into town and visits the shop. The girl, Gwen Conliffe (played by Evelyn Ankers), is behind the counter. Larry says that he is looking for a gift. He describes to her the earring she was wearing (which she no longer has on), and after she replies that they haven’t any like that, he responds “Oh yes you have, don’t you remember? On your dressing table, up in your room.” Mystified, Gwen tells him they aren’t for sale. Larry goes on to look at canes. He takes one out with a handle in the shape of a wolf, and a five pointed star on it. Gwen explains that the pentagram is the sign of the werewolf, and that every werewolf sees it in the palm of his next victim’s hand. Larry buys the cane. Gwen, still curious about the earring incident, asks him if he has ever seen her before. He replies “Of course”, but before telling her where and how, wants her to agree to take a walk with him that night. She says no, and walks with him to the door. They see gypsies driving past outside.
Later, Larry and Sir John briefly discuss the werewolf legend. In the next scene, we see the door to the antique shop, at night, from which Gwen emerges. Larry, waiting in a nearby doorway, walks up to her. She is wearing the earrings he liked, and he has the cane. Gwen calls to a friend, Jenny, who wants to come with them to the gypsy camp and have her fortune told. Jenny and Gwen laugh at Larry’s chagrin, and the three set off together. On the way, they see wolf bane, and Jenny picks some. Jenny goes in to have her fortune told first. Larry and Gwen take a walk in the fog shrouded woods. Larry explains about the telescope. Gwen tells him that she is engaged. Larry, however, does not seem terribly discouraged by the announcement. In the gypsy tent, Bela (played by Bela Lugosi) tosses Jenny’s wolf bane off the table. When he looks at her palm, he sees a pentagram. He is visibly upset and tells her to go. She leaves, and goes running through the woods. Larry and Gwen hear a wolf howling and then a scream. Larry runs off to see what is happening and finds Jenny being mauled by a wolf. Larry struggles with the wolf - which bites him on the chest - and finally kills it with the cane. Gwen finds Larry on the ground. A gypsy woman (played by Maria Ouspenskaya) comes along with her cart. She and Gwen take Larry to Talbot Castle.
Men go to look at Jenny’s body, and they find the body of Bela the gypsy nearby, and Larry’s cane. The next day, the constable and a doctor go to see Larry. He admits to owning the stick and asserts that he killed the wolf with it. Sir John informs Larry that Bela was killed and his stick was found by the body. Larry goes to show the wound he received, but it is gone. Sir John tells Larry that Paul (the constable) wants to ask him some questions.
“Yeah, go ahead. But don’t try to make me believe that I killed a man when I know that I killed a wolf!” exclaims Larry.
Will they believe him? Will he too become a werewolf?
Well, I doubt there will be many of my readers who don’t already know the answer to that last question. :)
Larry Talbot - who may, from what I’ve written, sound like a creepy, voyeuristic stalker - was played with a gentleness and sweetness by Lon Chaney Jr. Lon Jr. had something of a childlike quality about him - which served him especially well in his portrayal of Lennie in the film adaptation of “Of Mice and Men”. In addition to Lon Jr. in “The Wolf Man”, we get performances from Bela Lugosi and Claude Rains, as well as Maria Ouspenskaya and Evelyn Ankers. Quite the horror roster.
I have a soft spot for “The Wolf Man”, probably in part because it was, as I recall, my first classic horror film (other than horror comedies, that is). But I also appreciate it allegorically - it reminds me of the duality within us, of the battle between the flesh and the spirit in the Christian.
To choose a “most sympathetic monster” from Universal’s roster would be a difficult and probably quite subjective task. But for me, it might be the wolf man. After all, who else became a monster apparently as a result of trying to save someone’s life?
and says his prayers by night,
May become a wolf when the wolf bane blooms,
and the autumn moon is bright.”
So goes the poem about the wolf man legend that is featured prominently in this film.
In 1941, Universal started shooting “The Wolf Man” Unlike “Dracula”, Frankenstein”, and “The Invisible Man”, “The Wolf Man” was not a screen adaptation of a novel. It was rather based on werewolf legends, with some “new legends” thought up by screenwriter Curt Siodmak - including the poem at the beginning of this post. Lon Chaney Jr. (birth name Creighton Chaney), son of famous silent horror actor Lon Chaney, got the part of Larry Talbot. Makeup artist Jack Pierce did the wolf man makeup.
Instead of just names, the credits at the beginning of “The Wolf Man” show pictures of main characters along with the actor or actress’s names and the roles they played. Following this are the credits for screenplay, directors and so on. The film opens with a shot of a row of encyclopedias. One is taken and opened, and we see an entry on “LYCANTHROPY”. In the nest scene, Larry Talbot is being chauffeured to Talbot Castle. Upon arrival he is greeted by Sir John Talbot (Claude Rains). Larry is Sir John’s son, returned from America after the death of his older brother.
Later, up in the observatory, Larry works on a telescope. He looks through the telescope at the town, and focuses in on an open window through which a pretty girl can be seen. The girl puts on an earring. Seeing that the window is above an antique shop, Larry goes into town and visits the shop. The girl, Gwen Conliffe (played by Evelyn Ankers), is behind the counter. Larry says that he is looking for a gift. He describes to her the earring she was wearing (which she no longer has on), and after she replies that they haven’t any like that, he responds “Oh yes you have, don’t you remember? On your dressing table, up in your room.” Mystified, Gwen tells him they aren’t for sale. Larry goes on to look at canes. He takes one out with a handle in the shape of a wolf, and a five pointed star on it. Gwen explains that the pentagram is the sign of the werewolf, and that every werewolf sees it in the palm of his next victim’s hand. Larry buys the cane. Gwen, still curious about the earring incident, asks him if he has ever seen her before. He replies “Of course”, but before telling her where and how, wants her to agree to take a walk with him that night. She says no, and walks with him to the door. They see gypsies driving past outside.
Later, Larry and Sir John briefly discuss the werewolf legend. In the next scene, we see the door to the antique shop, at night, from which Gwen emerges. Larry, waiting in a nearby doorway, walks up to her. She is wearing the earrings he liked, and he has the cane. Gwen calls to a friend, Jenny, who wants to come with them to the gypsy camp and have her fortune told. Jenny and Gwen laugh at Larry’s chagrin, and the three set off together. On the way, they see wolf bane, and Jenny picks some. Jenny goes in to have her fortune told first. Larry and Gwen take a walk in the fog shrouded woods. Larry explains about the telescope. Gwen tells him that she is engaged. Larry, however, does not seem terribly discouraged by the announcement. In the gypsy tent, Bela (played by Bela Lugosi) tosses Jenny’s wolf bane off the table. When he looks at her palm, he sees a pentagram. He is visibly upset and tells her to go. She leaves, and goes running through the woods. Larry and Gwen hear a wolf howling and then a scream. Larry runs off to see what is happening and finds Jenny being mauled by a wolf. Larry struggles with the wolf - which bites him on the chest - and finally kills it with the cane. Gwen finds Larry on the ground. A gypsy woman (played by Maria Ouspenskaya) comes along with her cart. She and Gwen take Larry to Talbot Castle.
Men go to look at Jenny’s body, and they find the body of Bela the gypsy nearby, and Larry’s cane. The next day, the constable and a doctor go to see Larry. He admits to owning the stick and asserts that he killed the wolf with it. Sir John informs Larry that Bela was killed and his stick was found by the body. Larry goes to show the wound he received, but it is gone. Sir John tells Larry that Paul (the constable) wants to ask him some questions.
“Yeah, go ahead. But don’t try to make me believe that I killed a man when I know that I killed a wolf!” exclaims Larry.
Will they believe him? Will he too become a werewolf?
Well, I doubt there will be many of my readers who don’t already know the answer to that last question. :)
Larry Talbot - who may, from what I’ve written, sound like a creepy, voyeuristic stalker - was played with a gentleness and sweetness by Lon Chaney Jr. Lon Jr. had something of a childlike quality about him - which served him especially well in his portrayal of Lennie in the film adaptation of “Of Mice and Men”. In addition to Lon Jr. in “The Wolf Man”, we get performances from Bela Lugosi and Claude Rains, as well as Maria Ouspenskaya and Evelyn Ankers. Quite the horror roster.
I have a soft spot for “The Wolf Man”, probably in part because it was, as I recall, my first classic horror film (other than horror comedies, that is). But I also appreciate it allegorically - it reminds me of the duality within us, of the battle between the flesh and the spirit in the Christian.
To choose a “most sympathetic monster” from Universal’s roster would be a difficult and probably quite subjective task. But for me, it might be the wolf man. After all, who else became a monster apparently as a result of trying to save someone’s life?
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Review of “The Invisible Man”
In 1933, Universal released “The Invisible Man”, based on the novel by H.G. Wells. Boris Karloff had been proposed for the role of the invisible man, but did not end up playing it due to a contract dispute. James Whale, the director of the picture, chose Claude Rains, whose distinctive voice would prove a great asset to the role. This would be the first sound film he acted in.
The special effects used for the movie were groundbreaking. One of the processes for achieving the appearance of invisibility involved using a black velvet set, with Claude Rains, or a double, clothed in black velvet - covering even the head (air was supplied through tubes) - and wearing over that whatever article of clothing the scene called for. A double was often used as Claude Rains was claustrophobic. Shots made in this manner were combined with shots of the scene in which the invisible man was supposed to be, making composite shots.
After the credits, the film opens with a scene of a man walking in a snowstorm. The man’s face is bandaged and he wears dark goggles. Next, at The Lion’s Head inn, people are talking, drinking, and playing darts. The door opens to reveal a burst of snow, and the man with the bandaged face. The room becomes quiet. The man walks in and says he wants a room and a fire. Mrs. Hall (played by Una O’Connor) takes the man upstairs to a room and starts the fire. The man wants food. After Mrs. Hall leaves the room, he draws the shade. At the bar, speculation is going on about the man. Mrs. Hall brings him supper. The man declares that he wants to be left alone and undisturbed. Mrs. Hall goes downstairs and discovers that she didn’t bring up the mustard, so she takes it up. The man quickly covers his mouth with a napkin and makes it fairly clear he is not happy about being disturbed.
At a different house, Dr. Cranley (played by Henry Travers) is apparently working with some scientific apparatus. His daughter Flora (played by Gloria Stuart) comes in. She expresses concern about Jack - her sweetheart and Dr. Cranley’s assistant. He went away to work on an experiment, and they haven’t heard from by him for nearly a month. Kemp (played by William Harrigan), another assistant of Dr. Cranley, comes in. Flora goes into the other room and cries. Kemp comes in and speaks with her. He tries to convince her that Jack cares nothing for her, and attempts to declare his own love for her, but Flora is in no mood for that, and tells him to leave her alone.
Back at the inn, Jack (for that is who the man in the bandages is) is apparently working on an experiment on a table in the rented room. After he slams the door in her face when she tries to bring in his lunch, Mrs. Hall demands Mr. Hall to tell their unpleasant lodger to get out. Mr. Hall tells Jack to pack up and go. Jack implores him to let him stay, but Mr. Hall doesn’t relent, and begins to touch Jack’s things on the table. Enraged, Jack throws him down the stairs. Mrs. Hall comes in and begins shrieking and crying and having hysterics (in classic Una O’Connor style). A policeman (played by E. E. Clive) is fetched, and he goes up to the room and confronts Jack. Jack tells him to keep back. The policeman, however, comes in.
“You’re crazy to know who I am, aren’t you?” says Jack, “Alright, I’ll show you!”
Having said this, Jack proceeds to remove the fake nose. Next, he removes the goggles, and unwraps the bandages, laughing maniacally as he reveals more and more of his invisibility. The policeman and onlookers run away. The policeman decides to go back up after him. When he arrives he is met by what appears to be a dancing shirt. He and a few other men chase it, but Jack manages to get the shirt off, and choke the policeman, then escape through the door.
At the laboratory, Dr. Cranley and Kemp look for clues. Dr. Cranley discovers a list of chemicals, one of which is monocain, which he claims is a terrible drug. He explains that “it draws color from everything it touches”, but when tried out on an animal, it caused madness. Dr. Cranley thinks Jack might not have known this side effect. He decides that the police should be told that Jack has disappeared (no pun intended on the part of Dr. Cranley, apparently, as he presumably wouldn’t have known Jack was invisible).
Jack Griffin, in his drug-induced state of madness, wreaks havoc across the country. Will anything stop him?
While we only briefly see Rains, his magnificent voice is, like I mentioned before, a great asset to the role. We hear the menace at some points, and also the tenderness when he speaks to Flora. He was so well able to convey a range of feelings in his voice that the ability to read his expressions is hardly missed.
Dwight Frye makes a brief appearance as a reporter. There is some humor interspersed throughout - like the bit where a lady runs screaming from a pair of pants that are apparently running or walking down the road.
Jack Griffin is a sympathetic “monster”. Desiring to do something for Flora, to accomplish a great scientific achievement, to be more than a poor, struggling chemist, he, in his own view - “meddled in things [that] man must leave alone”, and though he accomplished invisibility, it was accompanied by madness.
Next, and last for the time, in my monster series - 1941’s “The Wolf Man”.
The special effects used for the movie were groundbreaking. One of the processes for achieving the appearance of invisibility involved using a black velvet set, with Claude Rains, or a double, clothed in black velvet - covering even the head (air was supplied through tubes) - and wearing over that whatever article of clothing the scene called for. A double was often used as Claude Rains was claustrophobic. Shots made in this manner were combined with shots of the scene in which the invisible man was supposed to be, making composite shots.
After the credits, the film opens with a scene of a man walking in a snowstorm. The man’s face is bandaged and he wears dark goggles. Next, at The Lion’s Head inn, people are talking, drinking, and playing darts. The door opens to reveal a burst of snow, and the man with the bandaged face. The room becomes quiet. The man walks in and says he wants a room and a fire. Mrs. Hall (played by Una O’Connor) takes the man upstairs to a room and starts the fire. The man wants food. After Mrs. Hall leaves the room, he draws the shade. At the bar, speculation is going on about the man. Mrs. Hall brings him supper. The man declares that he wants to be left alone and undisturbed. Mrs. Hall goes downstairs and discovers that she didn’t bring up the mustard, so she takes it up. The man quickly covers his mouth with a napkin and makes it fairly clear he is not happy about being disturbed.
At a different house, Dr. Cranley (played by Henry Travers) is apparently working with some scientific apparatus. His daughter Flora (played by Gloria Stuart) comes in. She expresses concern about Jack - her sweetheart and Dr. Cranley’s assistant. He went away to work on an experiment, and they haven’t heard from by him for nearly a month. Kemp (played by William Harrigan), another assistant of Dr. Cranley, comes in. Flora goes into the other room and cries. Kemp comes in and speaks with her. He tries to convince her that Jack cares nothing for her, and attempts to declare his own love for her, but Flora is in no mood for that, and tells him to leave her alone.
Back at the inn, Jack (for that is who the man in the bandages is) is apparently working on an experiment on a table in the rented room. After he slams the door in her face when she tries to bring in his lunch, Mrs. Hall demands Mr. Hall to tell their unpleasant lodger to get out. Mr. Hall tells Jack to pack up and go. Jack implores him to let him stay, but Mr. Hall doesn’t relent, and begins to touch Jack’s things on the table. Enraged, Jack throws him down the stairs. Mrs. Hall comes in and begins shrieking and crying and having hysterics (in classic Una O’Connor style). A policeman (played by E. E. Clive) is fetched, and he goes up to the room and confronts Jack. Jack tells him to keep back. The policeman, however, comes in.
“You’re crazy to know who I am, aren’t you?” says Jack, “Alright, I’ll show you!”
Having said this, Jack proceeds to remove the fake nose. Next, he removes the goggles, and unwraps the bandages, laughing maniacally as he reveals more and more of his invisibility. The policeman and onlookers run away. The policeman decides to go back up after him. When he arrives he is met by what appears to be a dancing shirt. He and a few other men chase it, but Jack manages to get the shirt off, and choke the policeman, then escape through the door.
At the laboratory, Dr. Cranley and Kemp look for clues. Dr. Cranley discovers a list of chemicals, one of which is monocain, which he claims is a terrible drug. He explains that “it draws color from everything it touches”, but when tried out on an animal, it caused madness. Dr. Cranley thinks Jack might not have known this side effect. He decides that the police should be told that Jack has disappeared (no pun intended on the part of Dr. Cranley, apparently, as he presumably wouldn’t have known Jack was invisible).
Jack Griffin, in his drug-induced state of madness, wreaks havoc across the country. Will anything stop him?
While we only briefly see Rains, his magnificent voice is, like I mentioned before, a great asset to the role. We hear the menace at some points, and also the tenderness when he speaks to Flora. He was so well able to convey a range of feelings in his voice that the ability to read his expressions is hardly missed.
Dwight Frye makes a brief appearance as a reporter. There is some humor interspersed throughout - like the bit where a lady runs screaming from a pair of pants that are apparently running or walking down the road.
Jack Griffin is a sympathetic “monster”. Desiring to do something for Flora, to accomplish a great scientific achievement, to be more than a poor, struggling chemist, he, in his own view - “meddled in things [that] man must leave alone”, and though he accomplished invisibility, it was accompanied by madness.
Next, and last for the time, in my monster series - 1941’s “The Wolf Man”.
Friday, October 17, 2014
Review of “Pygmalion”
I’m “interrupting” my monster series for this, my contribution to The Stage to Screen Blogathon, link follows: http://rachelstheatrereviews.wordpress.com/2014/09/17/reminder-the-stage-to-screen-blogathon/
George Bernard Shaw’s play “Pygmalion” had its first performance in London in 1914, and went on to garner great fame and acclaim. Gabriel Pascal obtained the rights to make a film version, and in 1938 he produced “Pygmalion”, starring Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller. Leslie Howard was already a well known movie star. Wendy Hiller had played Eliza before on the stage. George Bernard Shaw wrote a new “embassy ball” scene for the film to replace the play’s referred-to-but-not-shown garden party. The film was made in England, and co-directed by Anthony Asquith and Leslie Howard.
As a courtesy warning to potential viewers, the film does contain quite a bit of language.
The film opens - after the credits, and a prologue explaining somewhat the roots of Pygmalion - with a shot of flowers, pulling back to reveal Eliza Doolittle, apparently selecting from the pile of blooms to fill her basket. She brushes past Henry Higgins, who we see from the back. The camera follows Higgins, walking along through the hustle and bustle. A scene of crowded Covent Garden fades to reveal a near-deserted Covent Garden at night. Again we see Henry Higgins walking, then stopping to listen to a conversation between two men. It begins to rain. On the sidewalk, Mrs. Eynsford Hill and a young lady are waiting for Freddy to get them a taxi. Next, we see Freddy’s unsuccessful attempts at procuring one. He goes back to tell them his luck, but is sent out to try again, and runs into Eliza, knocking over her basket of flowers. She sits down at a column. She entreats a man to “buy a flower off a poor girl”, and he gives her tuppence, without taking a flower. After he leaves, a man in glasses and a bowler hat warns Eliza to be careful, as there is a “bloke” taking down what she says. Eliza confronts Higgins, standing nearby with his notebook, and entreats the man who gave her the tuppence not to charge her. The man assures her he makes no charge. A crowd has gathered and Higgins, gazing out with languid eyes, proceeds to tell several of the people where they are from. The crowd tells him to tell them where the gentleman (the man who gave Eliza tuppence) came from, and Higgins, with a flash of the eyes, proceeds to tell them - correctly.
The gentleman follows Higgins, and they strike up a conversation about phonetics. Eliza walks by sniveling. Higgins implores her to cease her boo-hooing. He boasts to the man that in three months he could pass her off as a duchess at an ambassador’s reception. It turns out that the man is Colonel Pickering, who came to England from India to meet Higgins, and whom Higgins was about to go to India to meet. Higgins insists that Pickering stay with him. Eliza implores Higgins to buy a flower, claiming she is short for her lodgings, but Higgins calls her a liar as she had previously said that she could change half a crown. She angrily kicks the basket at him, and he goes to leave, but, seeing a bird fly past, he looks up and says “a reminder”, then proceeds to drop money into her basket, handing it to her with a bow and a tip of the hat, then leaving with Pickering.
The next day Eliza shows up at Higgins’ house, offering to pay him if he will give her lessons so that she can speak like a lady. Colonel Pickering bets Higgins that he can’t carry out his boast of the night before, and offers to pay for Eliza’s lessons. Higgins takes him up on the bet.
Many or most of you already probably know the storyline from watching the musical version, “My Fair Lady”. I had seen “My Fair Lady” (the film with Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn) before watching this film, and was struck by how much difference the reading of the same or similar lines by different people can make in our perception of a character. I will try to refrain from turning this into a full-fledged comparison of the performances of Leslie Howard in this film and Rex Harrison in “My Fair Lady”, but I would like to note how different they are. While Harrison’s Higgins, to me, seemed genuinely rather cruel and unfeeling, Howard’s Higgins comes off differently in my view. His Higgins has somewhat of a schoolboy quality - treating life as a lark, a game, a frolic. He says cruel and unfeeling sounding things, but often with tongue in cheek, and a twinkle in his eye. Howard brought a lot of humor to the part. His expression during and reading of the following line, for example, I find hilarious:
“If you’re naughty and idle, you shall sleep in the back kitchen among the black beetles, and be walloped by Mrs. Pearce with a broomstick.”
Leslie Howard was excellent with comedy, and he brought some of that to the Higgins performance to great effect. Also outstanding was his ability to use his expression and eyes in some scenes to give us a glimpse of the real depths of emotion within Higgins, hiding behind the cold and glib facade.
I wouldn’t say that Wendy Hiller was my favorite Eliza, personally. She brought a lot to the role and I enjoyed much of her performance, however, there were thing that bothered me. She seemed to slip in and out of the Cockney accent a bit in the early scenes, which, to be fair, I think Audrey Hepburn may have done also. But another problem for me is how stilted and unnatural her now-supposedly-proper English still sounds at the embassy ball. It was very stilted in the scene of her visit to Higgins’ mother’s house, which seemed in keeping with the story, but by the time of the ball one might presume it would have improved. That may have been an odd directing choice, though, and not Wendy Hiller’s “fault”.
Scott Sunderland as Colonel Pickering was great, very warm and kindly. Marie Lohr was wonderful as Mrs. Higgins, with great, dry line deliveries. Wilfrid Lawson as Mr. Doolittle was oily and sleazy, as one might expect the character to be, and Jean Cadell’s Mrs. Pearce was great. Freddy, played by David Tree, was quite silly in this version, perhaps overly so. (POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT) Maybe they thought Freddy needed to be played over-the-top ridiculous in order to not have the audience disappointed that she didn’t choose him over Higgins. (END POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT).
I don’t know that I really have much more to say, so I’ll leave you with a humorous line from the film, said by Higgins to Pickering about Mrs. Pearce (Higgins’ housekeeper:
“That woman has the most extraordinary ideas about me. Here am I a shy, diffident sort of man, and yet she’s firmly persuaded that I’m a bossy, arbitrary, overbearing kind of person. How do you account for that?”
How do you account for it. :)
George Bernard Shaw’s play “Pygmalion” had its first performance in London in 1914, and went on to garner great fame and acclaim. Gabriel Pascal obtained the rights to make a film version, and in 1938 he produced “Pygmalion”, starring Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller. Leslie Howard was already a well known movie star. Wendy Hiller had played Eliza before on the stage. George Bernard Shaw wrote a new “embassy ball” scene for the film to replace the play’s referred-to-but-not-shown garden party. The film was made in England, and co-directed by Anthony Asquith and Leslie Howard.
As a courtesy warning to potential viewers, the film does contain quite a bit of language.
The film opens - after the credits, and a prologue explaining somewhat the roots of Pygmalion - with a shot of flowers, pulling back to reveal Eliza Doolittle, apparently selecting from the pile of blooms to fill her basket. She brushes past Henry Higgins, who we see from the back. The camera follows Higgins, walking along through the hustle and bustle. A scene of crowded Covent Garden fades to reveal a near-deserted Covent Garden at night. Again we see Henry Higgins walking, then stopping to listen to a conversation between two men. It begins to rain. On the sidewalk, Mrs. Eynsford Hill and a young lady are waiting for Freddy to get them a taxi. Next, we see Freddy’s unsuccessful attempts at procuring one. He goes back to tell them his luck, but is sent out to try again, and runs into Eliza, knocking over her basket of flowers. She sits down at a column. She entreats a man to “buy a flower off a poor girl”, and he gives her tuppence, without taking a flower. After he leaves, a man in glasses and a bowler hat warns Eliza to be careful, as there is a “bloke” taking down what she says. Eliza confronts Higgins, standing nearby with his notebook, and entreats the man who gave her the tuppence not to charge her. The man assures her he makes no charge. A crowd has gathered and Higgins, gazing out with languid eyes, proceeds to tell several of the people where they are from. The crowd tells him to tell them where the gentleman (the man who gave Eliza tuppence) came from, and Higgins, with a flash of the eyes, proceeds to tell them - correctly.
The gentleman follows Higgins, and they strike up a conversation about phonetics. Eliza walks by sniveling. Higgins implores her to cease her boo-hooing. He boasts to the man that in three months he could pass her off as a duchess at an ambassador’s reception. It turns out that the man is Colonel Pickering, who came to England from India to meet Higgins, and whom Higgins was about to go to India to meet. Higgins insists that Pickering stay with him. Eliza implores Higgins to buy a flower, claiming she is short for her lodgings, but Higgins calls her a liar as she had previously said that she could change half a crown. She angrily kicks the basket at him, and he goes to leave, but, seeing a bird fly past, he looks up and says “a reminder”, then proceeds to drop money into her basket, handing it to her with a bow and a tip of the hat, then leaving with Pickering.
The next day Eliza shows up at Higgins’ house, offering to pay him if he will give her lessons so that she can speak like a lady. Colonel Pickering bets Higgins that he can’t carry out his boast of the night before, and offers to pay for Eliza’s lessons. Higgins takes him up on the bet.
Many or most of you already probably know the storyline from watching the musical version, “My Fair Lady”. I had seen “My Fair Lady” (the film with Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn) before watching this film, and was struck by how much difference the reading of the same or similar lines by different people can make in our perception of a character. I will try to refrain from turning this into a full-fledged comparison of the performances of Leslie Howard in this film and Rex Harrison in “My Fair Lady”, but I would like to note how different they are. While Harrison’s Higgins, to me, seemed genuinely rather cruel and unfeeling, Howard’s Higgins comes off differently in my view. His Higgins has somewhat of a schoolboy quality - treating life as a lark, a game, a frolic. He says cruel and unfeeling sounding things, but often with tongue in cheek, and a twinkle in his eye. Howard brought a lot of humor to the part. His expression during and reading of the following line, for example, I find hilarious:
“If you’re naughty and idle, you shall sleep in the back kitchen among the black beetles, and be walloped by Mrs. Pearce with a broomstick.”
Leslie Howard was excellent with comedy, and he brought some of that to the Higgins performance to great effect. Also outstanding was his ability to use his expression and eyes in some scenes to give us a glimpse of the real depths of emotion within Higgins, hiding behind the cold and glib facade.
I wouldn’t say that Wendy Hiller was my favorite Eliza, personally. She brought a lot to the role and I enjoyed much of her performance, however, there were thing that bothered me. She seemed to slip in and out of the Cockney accent a bit in the early scenes, which, to be fair, I think Audrey Hepburn may have done also. But another problem for me is how stilted and unnatural her now-supposedly-proper English still sounds at the embassy ball. It was very stilted in the scene of her visit to Higgins’ mother’s house, which seemed in keeping with the story, but by the time of the ball one might presume it would have improved. That may have been an odd directing choice, though, and not Wendy Hiller’s “fault”.
Scott Sunderland as Colonel Pickering was great, very warm and kindly. Marie Lohr was wonderful as Mrs. Higgins, with great, dry line deliveries. Wilfrid Lawson as Mr. Doolittle was oily and sleazy, as one might expect the character to be, and Jean Cadell’s Mrs. Pearce was great. Freddy, played by David Tree, was quite silly in this version, perhaps overly so. (POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT) Maybe they thought Freddy needed to be played over-the-top ridiculous in order to not have the audience disappointed that she didn’t choose him over Higgins. (END POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT).
I don’t know that I really have much more to say, so I’ll leave you with a humorous line from the film, said by Higgins to Pickering about Mrs. Pearce (Higgins’ housekeeper:
“That woman has the most extraordinary ideas about me. Here am I a shy, diffident sort of man, and yet she’s firmly persuaded that I’m a bossy, arbitrary, overbearing kind of person. How do you account for that?”
How do you account for it. :)
Friday, October 10, 2014
Review of “Frankenstein” (1931)
After the success of “Dracula", Universal Pictures began filming an adaptation of another famous horror novel - “Frankenstein”. A bit of clarification here for those who are under the impression that the name Frankenstein refers to the green monster with the flattish head and bolts/electrodes in the sides of his neck - Frankenstein is the last name of the scientist who stitched together dead bodies and used his scientific discoveries to bring this creature to life. The resultant monster is, well, “the monster” or “Frankenstein’s monster”, although the name Frankenstein is often attributed, even in subsequent films if I remember correctly, to him.
The role of the monster was offered to Bela Lugosi, fresh from his role as Dracula, but he either turned it down or was dismissed from the project; stories seem to differ. Director James Whale tested actor Boris Karloff (born William Henry Pratt, in England) - who had been playing small parts in films for years - for the role. Karloff got the part. Makeup artist Jack Pierce, with the influence of James Whale (and possibly Karloff, to a degree) designed the iconic look of the monster. Pierce used a blue-green makeup on Karloff, as it produced a pale, sickly hue in black and white. Mortician’s wax was used on Karloff’s eyelids to give them the heavy look.
The film opens with a prologue, spoken by Edward Van Sloan - a sort of warning to the audience of the fearful tale that is to come. Following this are the title and credits. Behind some of them are revolving pictures of eyes. When the credits for the performers come up, the role of the monster is credited with a question mark.
The first scene is in an eerie graveyard. Mourning people stand around a grave where a service for a dead man is apparently just being concluded. Hiding nearby, Henry Frankenstein (played by Colin Clive) and his hunchback assistant Fritz (played by Dwight Frye), lie in wait. After the mourners have left and the grave has been filled in, Henry and Fritz go to work digging it up again. They remove the coffin from its resting place, and haul it along through craggy scenery on a cart. They approach a gallows upon which a hanged man still hangs. At Henry Frankenstein’s order, Fritz climbs up and cuts the rope. The body falls, and Henry examines it, realizing with apparent disgust that the neck is broken and the brain will be useless.
In the quest for a usable brain, Fritz waits outside the window of Goldstadt Medical College, where a class is taking place on the differences between the normal and criminal brains - with two brains in glass containers as illustration. When the class has left, Fritz pries open the window and goes inside, taking the normal brain from the table, but a noise startles him and he drops it, shattering the glass and, um - Warning to People with Very Weak Stomachs - I confess the brain smashing bit got to me. Granted it’s a disembodied brain, but still. This part is a bit more gross/gruesome than these old movies usually were. So I advise not eating or drinking anything while watching (that’s generally a safe policy when dealing with horror films anyway). Though many or most of you may think I’m overreacting :). Fritz goes back to the table and takes the abnormal brain.
Next we are taken to a luxurious house. Henry Frankenstein’s fiancee, Elizabeth (played by Mae Clarke), voices her concern about Henry to friend Victor Moritz (played by John Boles). She has not seen Henry, presumably for months. He has been away in an abandoned watch tower, working on his experiments. Victor had seen him three weeks previously, and says his manner was very strange. Victor decides to go to Dr. Waldman, Henry’s old medical school professor, to see if he can tell him any more about all this. Elizabeth determines to go with him.
At Dr. Waldman’s, Elizabeth asks the doctor why Henry left the university. Dr. Waldman (played by Edward Van Sloan) explains that Frankenstein’s advanced researches were becoming dangerous. He desired them to provide him with other bodies, without being “too particular” where and how they got them. Upon being told his demands were unreasonable, Frankenstein left the university.
A curving path leads up to the watch tower, which we see amidst a storm. Inside the tower, we see Henry at work. Electrical machinery is set up in the tower, awaiting use upon the body that lays, partially covered with a sheet, upon a table, and endowed with the brain Fritz stole from the medical college. Henry and Fritz prepare for “one final test”. A knock is heard on the door. Fritz goes down the stone staircase to send the unwelcome callers away. The callers are Dr. Waldman, Elizabeth, and Victor. Despite Fritz’s demand for them to go away, the knocking continues, accompanied now with shouts, which Henry hears. At the behest of his fiancee, he lets the three in. Victor’s assertion that he is crazy is met by Henry with brooding, glowering eyes. “Crazy am I? We’ll see whether I’m crazy or not.” he says.
He brings his visitors up the stairs to the room where his experiment awaits. He tells Dr. Waldman that he has discovered a ray. This ray he intends to harness with his machinery and use to bring the dead body on the table to life - a body which Frankenstein stitched together from different corpses. After a bright flash of lightning, Henry and Fritz ready the equipment. Amid flashes of electricity and noise from the strange machinery, the table bearing the body is lifted up to a hole in the ceiling of the tower. The electrical equipment for the film, by the way, was put together by Kenneth Strickfaden, an electrician who collected parts from different machines as a hobby.
After the body is lowered again, Frankenstein observes its hand move. Repeating what became one of cinema’s most famous phrases - “It’s alive!” - Henry goes from rapt but controlled excitement to wild, giddy exultation. Drunk with power, Henry proclaims, “Now I know what it feels like to be God.” But he is, after all, only a human, and his dangerous game of playing God will not be without dire consequences. In a world where the discoveries of science sound much like the science fiction of yesteryear - GMO “frankenfood”, the ability to alter DNA, cloning, and so on, with scientists meddling in things that may be better left alone - “Frankenstein” remains relevant.
“Frankenstein” benefits from some excellent acting on the part of Colin Clive and Boris Karloff. There was so much expressiveness in their eyes. Karloff’s performance as the childlike creature yearning for affection, yet turned to brutal monster by cruelty, is touching and poignant. His expression and body language in one scene, as he holds out his hands and looks at Henry Frankenstein, like a child to a parent, are especially moving. I feel I ought to also mention the great performance of Marilyn Harris. Though not in the film very long, she was apparently a very game little child actress (I refrain from saying much more on the subject in case it may be considered a “spoiler”).
Frankenstein’s monster - thrust into a cruel world through no wish of his own, a baby in a strong man’s body - his violence may elicit terror, but likely mixed with sympathy.
Until next time, when I propose to revisit 1933’s “The Invisible Man”.
The role of the monster was offered to Bela Lugosi, fresh from his role as Dracula, but he either turned it down or was dismissed from the project; stories seem to differ. Director James Whale tested actor Boris Karloff (born William Henry Pratt, in England) - who had been playing small parts in films for years - for the role. Karloff got the part. Makeup artist Jack Pierce, with the influence of James Whale (and possibly Karloff, to a degree) designed the iconic look of the monster. Pierce used a blue-green makeup on Karloff, as it produced a pale, sickly hue in black and white. Mortician’s wax was used on Karloff’s eyelids to give them the heavy look.
The film opens with a prologue, spoken by Edward Van Sloan - a sort of warning to the audience of the fearful tale that is to come. Following this are the title and credits. Behind some of them are revolving pictures of eyes. When the credits for the performers come up, the role of the monster is credited with a question mark.
The first scene is in an eerie graveyard. Mourning people stand around a grave where a service for a dead man is apparently just being concluded. Hiding nearby, Henry Frankenstein (played by Colin Clive) and his hunchback assistant Fritz (played by Dwight Frye), lie in wait. After the mourners have left and the grave has been filled in, Henry and Fritz go to work digging it up again. They remove the coffin from its resting place, and haul it along through craggy scenery on a cart. They approach a gallows upon which a hanged man still hangs. At Henry Frankenstein’s order, Fritz climbs up and cuts the rope. The body falls, and Henry examines it, realizing with apparent disgust that the neck is broken and the brain will be useless.
In the quest for a usable brain, Fritz waits outside the window of Goldstadt Medical College, where a class is taking place on the differences between the normal and criminal brains - with two brains in glass containers as illustration. When the class has left, Fritz pries open the window and goes inside, taking the normal brain from the table, but a noise startles him and he drops it, shattering the glass and, um - Warning to People with Very Weak Stomachs - I confess the brain smashing bit got to me. Granted it’s a disembodied brain, but still. This part is a bit more gross/gruesome than these old movies usually were. So I advise not eating or drinking anything while watching (that’s generally a safe policy when dealing with horror films anyway). Though many or most of you may think I’m overreacting :). Fritz goes back to the table and takes the abnormal brain.
Next we are taken to a luxurious house. Henry Frankenstein’s fiancee, Elizabeth (played by Mae Clarke), voices her concern about Henry to friend Victor Moritz (played by John Boles). She has not seen Henry, presumably for months. He has been away in an abandoned watch tower, working on his experiments. Victor had seen him three weeks previously, and says his manner was very strange. Victor decides to go to Dr. Waldman, Henry’s old medical school professor, to see if he can tell him any more about all this. Elizabeth determines to go with him.
At Dr. Waldman’s, Elizabeth asks the doctor why Henry left the university. Dr. Waldman (played by Edward Van Sloan) explains that Frankenstein’s advanced researches were becoming dangerous. He desired them to provide him with other bodies, without being “too particular” where and how they got them. Upon being told his demands were unreasonable, Frankenstein left the university.
A curving path leads up to the watch tower, which we see amidst a storm. Inside the tower, we see Henry at work. Electrical machinery is set up in the tower, awaiting use upon the body that lays, partially covered with a sheet, upon a table, and endowed with the brain Fritz stole from the medical college. Henry and Fritz prepare for “one final test”. A knock is heard on the door. Fritz goes down the stone staircase to send the unwelcome callers away. The callers are Dr. Waldman, Elizabeth, and Victor. Despite Fritz’s demand for them to go away, the knocking continues, accompanied now with shouts, which Henry hears. At the behest of his fiancee, he lets the three in. Victor’s assertion that he is crazy is met by Henry with brooding, glowering eyes. “Crazy am I? We’ll see whether I’m crazy or not.” he says.
He brings his visitors up the stairs to the room where his experiment awaits. He tells Dr. Waldman that he has discovered a ray. This ray he intends to harness with his machinery and use to bring the dead body on the table to life - a body which Frankenstein stitched together from different corpses. After a bright flash of lightning, Henry and Fritz ready the equipment. Amid flashes of electricity and noise from the strange machinery, the table bearing the body is lifted up to a hole in the ceiling of the tower. The electrical equipment for the film, by the way, was put together by Kenneth Strickfaden, an electrician who collected parts from different machines as a hobby.
After the body is lowered again, Frankenstein observes its hand move. Repeating what became one of cinema’s most famous phrases - “It’s alive!” - Henry goes from rapt but controlled excitement to wild, giddy exultation. Drunk with power, Henry proclaims, “Now I know what it feels like to be God.” But he is, after all, only a human, and his dangerous game of playing God will not be without dire consequences. In a world where the discoveries of science sound much like the science fiction of yesteryear - GMO “frankenfood”, the ability to alter DNA, cloning, and so on, with scientists meddling in things that may be better left alone - “Frankenstein” remains relevant.
“Frankenstein” benefits from some excellent acting on the part of Colin Clive and Boris Karloff. There was so much expressiveness in their eyes. Karloff’s performance as the childlike creature yearning for affection, yet turned to brutal monster by cruelty, is touching and poignant. His expression and body language in one scene, as he holds out his hands and looks at Henry Frankenstein, like a child to a parent, are especially moving. I feel I ought to also mention the great performance of Marilyn Harris. Though not in the film very long, she was apparently a very game little child actress (I refrain from saying much more on the subject in case it may be considered a “spoiler”).
Frankenstein’s monster - thrust into a cruel world through no wish of his own, a baby in a strong man’s body - his violence may elicit terror, but likely mixed with sympathy.
Until next time, when I propose to revisit 1933’s “The Invisible Man”.
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Review of “Dracula” (1931)
Pull up a comfy chair, drape yourself generously with wolf bane, and let’s visit Dracula.
Movies hadn’t been talking all that long when Universal Pictures made their now classic version of Dracula. For the role of Count Dracula, Bela Lugosi - tall, dark haired, with a pronounced accent and “hypnotic” eyes - was chosen. He had played the role in the Broadway production and U.S. tour of a stage play based on Bram Stoker’s novel. Lugosi, whose birth name was Blasko (with an accent on the o that I can’t seem to get on there properly), was born in what was then Hungary, is now Romania, and, allegedly (if I can trust my sources), was once Transylvania.
As the credits begin, haunting music is playing (a piece from “Swan Lake”), and we see a bat with glowing eyes, and in front of it, a spider web. After the credits, the first shot is a spectacular image of rugged mountain peaks, and a horse-drawn coach moving over a path. The visual effect of the mountains in the background was achieved by an interesting process which involved putting the scenery for the upper portion of the picture - painted on glass - in front of the camera, and shooting it at the same time as the live action going on at the bottom of the screen, so as to create an optical illusion. This process was also used for a few other scenes in the film.
Inside the coach, passenger Renfield (played by Dwight Frye) bids the driver to go slower, but a fellow passenger asserts that they must reach the inn before sundown, as it is “the night of evil”. Upon reaching the inn, Renfield instructs the porter not to take his luggage down, as he is going on to Borgo Pass. This news is met with surprise and consternation, especially when he mentions that Count Dracula’s carriage is to meet him there at midnight. Despite the locals warnings against vampires, Renfield insists that it’s a matter of business, and he has to go. Before he re-enters the coach, a woman (presumably the innkeeper’s wife) gives him a crucifix for protection.
After a shot of the Dracula castle, we see what appears to be the Castle cellar, with ominous stone pillars and coffins here and there. One of the coffins opens and a hand emerges. Cut to a shot of an opossum (an opossum? In Transylvania? Hmm). From another coffin comes a female hand. Then, from a tiny coffin, rather bizarrely, comes an insect of some sort. To be fair, I think the intention was for it to appear as if the coffin were full-sized and the bug giant, but the illusion, in my opinion anyway, didn’t work. After another shot of the female vampire, and another opossum shot, comes the compelling first shot of Dracula, wrapped in his cape, his eyes staring.
Dracula’s carriage, with the Count himself as driver, picks up Renfield, and he is driven to Castle Dracula. Partway there, Renfield looks out of the window and sees a bat flying over the horses. When the carriage stops, the driver is gone. The castle door opens, apparently by itself, and Renfield enters. The “glass shot” effect is used again here, resulting in a magnificent picture of the high walls and foreboding interior of the crumbling castle. Dracula descends the staircase with a candle. And we next have a shot of armadillos. Yes, I said armadillos. I wonder who decided that an opossum or two, some armadillos, and a “giant” bug were the proper denizens for a vampire’s castle in Transylvania? (Note: Please don’t take my little fun-making at this film’s expense too much to heart). Renfield turns and sees the figure on the stairs, who proclaims, “I am Dracula.”
Renfield has come with the lease to a Carfax Abbey in England, ready for Dracula’s signature. When Renfield pricks his finger on a paperclip, the sight of blood attracts Dracula, who slowly moves closer, until the sight of the crucifix causes him to turn away and cover his eyes. Renfield proceeds to suck the scratch (Eww, I cringe when I see people do that. Self-vampirism, lol). Dracula leaves Renfield, but returns later to bite him.
The two journey to England on a chartered ship, Renfield now a blood-craving madman under Dracula’s power. The ship arrives in England, the crew all dead. Renfield is taken to a sanitarium, and Dracula’s boxes of Transylvanian soil, one of which contains the Count, are presumably shipped to Carfax Abbey. Dracula proceeds to enact his terrors on the unsuspecting people of England, but he finds a formidable opponent in Professor Van Helsing (played by Edward Van Sloan), a man with no little knowledge of vampires.
Despite some stagey acting, lack of sophisticated special effects, and interesting choice of castle dwelling creatures :), “Dracula” is still a fascinating piece of cinema. There are so many great visuals, including a giant spider web, the mirror scene, the use of fog, and the magnificently huge (and dangerous looking) staircase at the abbey. Bela Lugosi’s performance was iconic, and his accent is still regarded and mimicked as a “vampire accent”. After “Dracula” he was seriously typecast in horror and vampire roles, although he played Count Dracula on film only once more - in “Bud Abbot Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein”. Dwight Frye as Renfield does, in my opinion, a wonderful and at times chilling job in his mad scenes, while remaining sympathetic.
Dracula is, to me, one of the least sympathetic of the Universal monsters, and yet, even in him we get a glimpse, at one point, of, if not remorse, weariness with his vampiric existence. He postulates with a slight hint of wistfulness, “To die, to be really dead, that must be glorious.”, afterwards going on to observe that there are far worse things awaiting man than death.
Well, that’s all for now. Next up - also 1931 - “Frankenstein”.
Movies hadn’t been talking all that long when Universal Pictures made their now classic version of Dracula. For the role of Count Dracula, Bela Lugosi - tall, dark haired, with a pronounced accent and “hypnotic” eyes - was chosen. He had played the role in the Broadway production and U.S. tour of a stage play based on Bram Stoker’s novel. Lugosi, whose birth name was Blasko (with an accent on the o that I can’t seem to get on there properly), was born in what was then Hungary, is now Romania, and, allegedly (if I can trust my sources), was once Transylvania.
As the credits begin, haunting music is playing (a piece from “Swan Lake”), and we see a bat with glowing eyes, and in front of it, a spider web. After the credits, the first shot is a spectacular image of rugged mountain peaks, and a horse-drawn coach moving over a path. The visual effect of the mountains in the background was achieved by an interesting process which involved putting the scenery for the upper portion of the picture - painted on glass - in front of the camera, and shooting it at the same time as the live action going on at the bottom of the screen, so as to create an optical illusion. This process was also used for a few other scenes in the film.
Inside the coach, passenger Renfield (played by Dwight Frye) bids the driver to go slower, but a fellow passenger asserts that they must reach the inn before sundown, as it is “the night of evil”. Upon reaching the inn, Renfield instructs the porter not to take his luggage down, as he is going on to Borgo Pass. This news is met with surprise and consternation, especially when he mentions that Count Dracula’s carriage is to meet him there at midnight. Despite the locals warnings against vampires, Renfield insists that it’s a matter of business, and he has to go. Before he re-enters the coach, a woman (presumably the innkeeper’s wife) gives him a crucifix for protection.
After a shot of the Dracula castle, we see what appears to be the Castle cellar, with ominous stone pillars and coffins here and there. One of the coffins opens and a hand emerges. Cut to a shot of an opossum (an opossum? In Transylvania? Hmm). From another coffin comes a female hand. Then, from a tiny coffin, rather bizarrely, comes an insect of some sort. To be fair, I think the intention was for it to appear as if the coffin were full-sized and the bug giant, but the illusion, in my opinion anyway, didn’t work. After another shot of the female vampire, and another opossum shot, comes the compelling first shot of Dracula, wrapped in his cape, his eyes staring.
Dracula’s carriage, with the Count himself as driver, picks up Renfield, and he is driven to Castle Dracula. Partway there, Renfield looks out of the window and sees a bat flying over the horses. When the carriage stops, the driver is gone. The castle door opens, apparently by itself, and Renfield enters. The “glass shot” effect is used again here, resulting in a magnificent picture of the high walls and foreboding interior of the crumbling castle. Dracula descends the staircase with a candle. And we next have a shot of armadillos. Yes, I said armadillos. I wonder who decided that an opossum or two, some armadillos, and a “giant” bug were the proper denizens for a vampire’s castle in Transylvania? (Note: Please don’t take my little fun-making at this film’s expense too much to heart). Renfield turns and sees the figure on the stairs, who proclaims, “I am Dracula.”
Renfield has come with the lease to a Carfax Abbey in England, ready for Dracula’s signature. When Renfield pricks his finger on a paperclip, the sight of blood attracts Dracula, who slowly moves closer, until the sight of the crucifix causes him to turn away and cover his eyes. Renfield proceeds to suck the scratch (Eww, I cringe when I see people do that. Self-vampirism, lol). Dracula leaves Renfield, but returns later to bite him.
The two journey to England on a chartered ship, Renfield now a blood-craving madman under Dracula’s power. The ship arrives in England, the crew all dead. Renfield is taken to a sanitarium, and Dracula’s boxes of Transylvanian soil, one of which contains the Count, are presumably shipped to Carfax Abbey. Dracula proceeds to enact his terrors on the unsuspecting people of England, but he finds a formidable opponent in Professor Van Helsing (played by Edward Van Sloan), a man with no little knowledge of vampires.
Despite some stagey acting, lack of sophisticated special effects, and interesting choice of castle dwelling creatures :), “Dracula” is still a fascinating piece of cinema. There are so many great visuals, including a giant spider web, the mirror scene, the use of fog, and the magnificently huge (and dangerous looking) staircase at the abbey. Bela Lugosi’s performance was iconic, and his accent is still regarded and mimicked as a “vampire accent”. After “Dracula” he was seriously typecast in horror and vampire roles, although he played Count Dracula on film only once more - in “Bud Abbot Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein”. Dwight Frye as Renfield does, in my opinion, a wonderful and at times chilling job in his mad scenes, while remaining sympathetic.
Dracula is, to me, one of the least sympathetic of the Universal monsters, and yet, even in him we get a glimpse, at one point, of, if not remorse, weariness with his vampiric existence. He postulates with a slight hint of wistfulness, “To die, to be really dead, that must be glorious.”, afterwards going on to observe that there are far worse things awaiting man than death.
Well, that’s all for now. Next up - also 1931 - “Frankenstein”.
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Monster Movie Marathon
Since it is the month of October, and since I recently received four of the Legacy Collection sets of Universal monster movies for my birthday, I’ve decided to do a series of reviews on some of the classic monster films.
As a child, I wasn’t always very fond of scary movies. I didn’t watch very many, and most of those I did were comedies. I loved Abbott and Costello, and their “Meet Frankenstein” film made an impression on me. I liked my little Dracula, Frankenstein, and Wolf man toys that had come with the kid’s meals at one of the fast food places we’d been to.
However, I still avoided horror movies as an adult. But curiosity got to me and I decided to watch “The Wolf Man” and see what the hype was about. I was glued to the screen (figuratively speaking :) ) Now, I’m a huge fan of the classic horror genre.
What is it about these films that makes them so great, even after more than 50 years? If I may be so bold as to venture an opinion on the subject, I think the following are two important reasons:
Atmosphere: The atmosphere in these old films is - to be perhaps somewhat cliché - so thick you could cut it with a knife (again, figuratively speaking). Rather than focusing on tons of blood and guts and goriness, they used wonderfully eerie imagery that seemed to be enhanced by being shot in black and white.
Excellent acting: While excellent may not be an adjective to apply to all of the actors in these old films, I certainly think it applies to many. Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Claude Rains, and Lon Chaney Jr. brought their respective monsters to life (or undeath, as the case may be) on the screen with menace, sometimes pathos, and charisma. Their monsters could both attract and repel.
Join me, if you will, as I revisit these captivating classics. First up on the agenda - 1931’s “Dracula”.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)