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thatscrewyballyhooeyhollywood · 6 months

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Classic Film Festival Day 2

And we're back! For Day 2 of Cinecon 59, and although this is a 5-day festival, we don't let one minute of these precious days go to waste. So yeah, Day 2 sure was jam packed....

Boris Karloff Home Movies (1937 - 1941)

As a relative newbie to the cinephile universe, Boris Karloff is most famous to me as The Monster in Universal's classic horror films of the 1930s and 1940s. Frankenstein's monster, of course, but I also know he starred as assorted villains over the years - the Satanic priest Hjalmar Poelzig in The Black Cat (1934), the lumbering executioner in 15th century England in Tower of London (1939), and the original Imhotep in The Mummy (1932).

The short clips of home movies shown in this 15-minute presentation highlighted the man behind the monster, with shots of birthday parties, his very young daughter Sara (born on his 51st birthday, while he was at work on Son of Frankenstein (1939)), his large home and gardens, and a wide variety of friends. All clips were accompanied by biting-but-loving commentary by the now elderly Sara Karloff, who adored her father, but also saw there was something inane in the fact he owned.... goats.

Little Mickey Grogan (1927)

RKO Pictures

Director: James Leo Meehan

The first feature of the day got us off to a rip-roaring start, with this silent comedy about two semi-homeless kids, the eponymous Mickey (Frankie Darro) and his spitfire kinda best friend, Susan (Lassie Lou Ahern), who manage to solve an entire host of other people's problems, and still find their own happy ever after in the process.

First up is befriending kind-hearted factory worker, Winnie (Jobyna Ralston), who takes both children in and offers them food, a place to stay, and - gross! - a bath. As appreciative as they are, Mickey is listless and he is back on the streets in no time, now befriending an unemployed architect who lost his job because he is slowly going blind. Through a series of hapless circumstances, Mickey manages to get Winnie and Jeff (Carroll Nye) in the same room, where sparks fly, and Winnie becomes determined to help Jeff get his life back on track.

More shenanigans ensue - most perpetrated by a rather acrobatic Mickey - but we can all guess how this turns out, right? Winnie finds a way to get Jeff the medical help that will reverse his vision loss, he lands a job as an architect, and the two happily adopt their homeless benefactors.

Not much of a spoiler alert as the film's plot was delightfully predictable, and I do mean that, while it is clear from the start how things will end, the fun is watching this cast get to that end. Frankie Darro was especially impressive, with his many stunts, and Lassie Lou Ahern kept pace with him with her snappy one-liners. A joy to watch at 9am!

The Scarlet Letter (1934)

Majestic Pictures

Director: Robert G. Vignola

I read this book in high school, and remembered this: what's-her-name committed adultery and she wore a big red "A" on her chest for the rest of her life. I also remember not enjoying the book all that much, so I was pleasantly surprised by this recently restored version - the first sound adaptation of the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel every student will undoubtedly read at some point in their academic career.

In this version, the beautiful Colleen Moore takes on the role of Hester Prynne, the 17th century Massachusetts widow who has an affair with the town minister, Arthur Dimmesdale (Hardie Albright). When the unmarried Hester becomes pregnant, and will not reveal the name of her baby's father, she is forced to wear a scarlet "A" on her chest as a mark of her crime.

Hester plows onward, giving birth to her illegitimate daughter Pearl (Cora Sue Collins), and trying to make a life for the two of them in a town that shuns them. Among those who turn their backs on Hester and Pearl is Hester's long-lost husband, Roger Chillingworth (Henry B. Walthall), whom she believed died in a shipwreck years earlier, and who shows up in town the same day as her trial. Furious at her betrayal, Chillingworth makes it his mission to ruin Hester's life by letting her flail at survival.

And there's the Reverend Dimmesdale, eaten alive by guilt over the tortures inflicted on Hester by his parishioners, and her protection of him, but who can't seem to figure out a way to make things right.

It will all come to a tragic conclusion (of course - otherwise, why would the book be required reading for students everywhere?), but I still found myself enjoying the film. It was a bit slow (what classic literary masterpiece isn't?), and I did walk away with the same thought I had after reading the book - what was the point? - but I still thought the performances were strong, the set design was masterful, and there were some nice comic elements scattered throughout. Not a bad way to spend an hour or so.

Forgotten Faces (1928)

Paramount-Famous Players Lasky

Director: Victor Schertzinger

We go from dark to darker with this 1928 silent drama. And whew, I do mean dark. "Heliotrope Harry" Harlow (Clive Brook) is a successful thief and con man, who comes home early one night from a job and finds his heartless gold-digging wife, Lilly (Olga Baclanova) in bed with another man. Cool as a cucumber in the fridge, Harry whips out a gun and shoots the lover dead.

Knowing Lilly is evil, and prison is now his only destination, Harry retrieves his beloved infant daughter from a nearby bedroom, and takes her to a wealthy family, leaving her on the front step for them to find and adopt. Harry then calls on his friend and criminal partner, Froggy (a very young William Powell) and begs him to watch over his daughter, to make sure Lilly never finds her.

Fast forward 15 years, and Harry is behind bars for murder, Lilly is living in squalor, and Froggy is keeping his promise to protect Alice (Mary Brian). But that sneaky scheming Lilly - she tricks Froggy into revealing Alice's location - and Lilly can't help herself. She visits Harry in prison, and gloats that she knows where their daughter is, how wealthy her adopted family is, and she will stop at nothing to fleece Alice of everything she has.

Desperate to stop Lilly, Harry manages to break out of prison (as one could do with some ease in the 1920s), and secure a job as a butler with Alice's family. He bides his time, falling in love with his daughter all over again, and waiting for the showdown with Lilly he knows is coming.

I have to admit, I was a bit surprised at the darkness of this material. You do have it all - a heartless wife and mother only interested in money, a crime of passion (murder, no less), a family torn asunder, and a vengeful woman out to destroy her own child. It's a storyline I wouldn't expect to see in the conservative backlash of the hedonistic 1920s, but I am glad this one got made. It was fantastic. Dark. Wicked. And brutally fantastic.

What's Cookin (1942)

Universal Pictures

Director: Edward F. Cline

After two rather somber and dark films, it was time to lighten things up! And what better way to do that than with a "Jivin' Jacks and Jills" classic?

As I learned through the course of attending Cinecon, the Jivin' Jacks and Jills were a group of teenage singers and dancers that Universal Pictures cobbled together in the 1940s to put in B musicals and attract teen audiences. A very young Donald O'Connor was part of the troupe (and appears in What's Cookin'), a fact I was very excited about because I have always adored him. I grew up watching Singin' in the Rain (1952). Need I say more?

There isn't much of a plot to this film. The owners of a successful radio program, J.P. Courtney (Charles Butterworth) and his wife, Agatha (Billie Burke) are at odd over how to keep the program fresh and exciting. J.P. wants to bring in new acts; Agatha thinks the classical music that made the program popular is just fine. So by bringing in a few co-conspirators, including hapless magician Marvo the Great (Leo Carillo), the extremely popular Andrews Sisters (LaVerne, Maxene, and Patricia Andrews), and, of course, the Jivin Jacks and Jills, J.P. hopes to convince Agatha the times, they are a'changin.'

This film really was a breath of fresh air, even if it hadn't followed on the heels of two dark dramas. The musical numbers were the heart and soul, and rightfully so - they were fabulous. Why talk when you can sing and dance, I always say? I can see why these types of musicals were so popular during World War II - there really was no better way to get away from the horrors of reality than with whipped cream like this.

The Student of Prague (1926)

Sokai-Film

Director: Henrik Galeen

We close out Night 2 with probably my favorite movie of the entire weekend. I'm no student of German Expressionism (I haven't even seen The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)), but this movie was so stunningly beautiful. And so clever. And truly the stuff of nightmares.

Balduin (Conrad Veidt) is bored. He is the best swordsman in the entire city of Prague - no one even comes close - so dueling has lost its appeal. He doesn't care about going to parties with his friends anymore - how much beer can one guy drink before he tires of it anyway? And life is just... dull. Balduin wants to fall in love, but he is so wrapped up in his own listlessness, he doesn't notice the affections of Lydushka (Elizza La Porta), a waitress in the local bar. Plus, he probably wouldn't be interested anyway - Lydushka is poor, and Balduin craves riches.

That's why he accepts a weird offer from the mysterious Scapinelli (Werner Krauss), a wealthy stranger who promises to give Balduin endless riches, in exchange for one thing: Balduin's mirror reflection. It's a bizarre request, but who needs their reflection? And Scapinelli is going to hand over more money than Balduin has ever seen, so Balduin accepts, and it isn't long before he starts reaping the rewards of the deal.

He attends high society parties, where he falls in love with Comtesse Margit (Agnes Esterhazy), a wealthy heiress he saved from a horseback riding accident before he met Scapinelli (and, of course, who fell in love with the poor Balduin but he was so self absorbed he didn't see it).

But it isn't long before Balduin's reflection, wandering free, starts wreaking havoc, and Balduin is facing increasing recriminations for his double's behavior. When Balduin's mirror reflection ruins his budding romance with Margit, Balduin decides to put an end to it. At a terrible cost to him as well.

There isn't much words can do to describe this film, and how beautiful it was. How horrifying it was. It really is a masterpiece in every way. And should be more widely available.

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thatscrewyballyhooeyhollywood · 8 months

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Classic Film Festival Day 1

Picture it: it's Labor Day weekend 2023. The town is El Segundo, a charming postcard-esque community just south of Los Angeles International Airport. The venue is the Old Town Music Hall, a 188-seat movie palace originally built in 1921, and now home to a 1925 Wurlitzer Theater Pipe organ.

And the event is Cinecon 59: a five-day film festival where cinephiles gather to experience rare, sometimes newly restored, and often otherwise unavailable classics from the silent and studio eras.

I was excited to attend this year, and see an incredible line-up of rare gems over five days, starting with Opening Night.

A Language All My Own (1935)

Paramount Pictures

Director: David Fleischer

Among the many animators working during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the Fleischer brothers (Max and Dave) left their indelible mark on the field with iconic and beloved characters like Popeye, KoKo the Clown, and of course, Betty Boop.

Cinecon opened this year with a newly restored Betty Boop cartoon, in which our titular heroine - a very successful nightclub singer - travels to Japan to perform in front of her adoring fans overseas. At a brisk 6 minutes, much of the cartoon's humor comes from Betty's flight in an anthropomorphic airplane (the plane literally "runs" down the runway), but it does include a unique Betty Boop number - the eponymous "A Language All My Own" - and plenty of classic Betty dance moves onstage.

A very fun opening to what promised to be an exciting weekend.

The Gold Diggers (1923)

Warner Bros.

Director: Harry Beaumont

Betty Boop was immediately followed by this light and airy rom-com, a film long thought lost until four of its six reels were found in the back of an old van a few years ago. Newly restored, and very likely premiering for the first time since its original 1923 release, The Gold Diggers tells the story of Wally Saunders (John Harron) who has fallen madly in love with chorus girl Violet Dayne (Anne Cornwall) and wants to marry her. Unfortunately, Wally's rich uncle and guardian, Stephen Lee (Wyndham Standing) pulls the plug on that dream - all chorus girls are ruthless gold diggers, after all - and he forbids the union.

Heartbroken, Violet turns to her best friend and fellow chorus girl, Jerry La Mar (Hope Hampton) who decides to show Uncle Stephen what a real gold digger is. Maybe once he falls for one himself, the stubborn old codger will realize Violet is truly in love with Wally, and let the two live happily ever after.

Jerry's plan is brilliant, but one thing she doesn't count on? Falling in love with Stephen herself.

I will admit this was a difficult one for me to follow because it was missing two reels, and even with the intertitles explaining the missing sequences, it felt a little discombobulating. But what did survive was beautifully restored, and it had some great laugh-out-loud moments.

Adventure's End (1937)

Universal Pictures

Director: Arthur Lubin

The last film I watched on opening night was this early, pre-Stagecoach (1939) John Wayne high seas adventure.

Funnily enough, Wayne plays "Duke" Slade, a pearl diver working in the South Pacific, who manages to piss off the locals and escapes their wrath by sneaking aboard a whaling ship docked nearby. Slade is immediately drawn into shipboard drama - the captain is dying and he doesn't want his beloved whaler to fall into the hands of his crafty first mate. He implores Slade to marry his daughter, Janet Drew (Diana Gibson), so he can name Slade his heir, and hand the ship over to the two of them.

Surprisingly (yeah, actually, not surprisingly since Diana Gibson is drop-dead gorgeous), Slade agrees to this mad plan, and he is named captain right before Captain Abner (Montagu Love) passes on.

Does first mate Rand Husk (Moroni Olsen) fall in line with this new arrangement? Of course not. He had his sights set on marrying Janet himself, and he sure as hell isn't reporting to some half-naked bum that clambered onto his ship.

So, Slade sure has his hands full. In addition to a new wife anxious to annul their marriage now that her beloved father has died, he now has to captain a whaler that hasn't caught anything in ages, deal with a mutinous crew, and somehow stop his meddlesome pearl diving partner, Kalo (Paul White), from making things worse.

This really was an adventure, even if a bit *cough* of a stretch when it came to the storyline... a dying captain marries his daughter off to some bedraggled stranger who just climbed aboard his ship? But eh, it is what it is. And the visual effects were spectacular for 1937. Some of the whale chasing sequences were clearly rear projection, but some others were done.... how???

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thatscrewyballyhooeyhollywood · 9 months

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Barbenheimer.

It is a progeny of some genius on social media: watch two wildly different movies released in theaters on the same day, back-to-back.

One of many "Barbenheimer" images that appeared in print and social media. On the left, Cillian Murphy, in the role of J. Robert Oppenheimer, and on the right is Margot Robbie as the titular Barbie.

And by wildly different, I mean these two films could not have been farther apart from each other. The first - Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer (2023) - is a dark and tense epic about mankind's incredible accomplishments, and the devastation those accomplishments can leave behind, as told through the rise and fall of the "Father of the Atomic Bomb."

The second was Greta Gerwig's Barbie (2023), a bubblegum pink comedy about history's most famous toy, who goes on an adventure to the "Real World" to solve a mystery around changes happening in "Barbie Land."

Pairing these two movies proved to be genius in several ways. Of course, this non-sanctioned marketing campaign (as far as I know, it was strictly a product of social media and something neither Universal (Oppenheimer) nor Warner Bros. (Barbie) threw their weight behind) meant both films blasted past box office expectations.

But at the same time, the back-to-back nature of watching the films prompted many - myself included - who would have only watched one of these movies in other contexts (I was Team Oppenheimer all the way here) instead watch a movie they otherwise would not have seen.

And there is something almost visceral about how differently the two movies looked, and felt, and the questions they each left viewers with as the end credits rolled.

Questions that may seem to conflict, but they are not necessarily mutually exclusive: how far is too far? At what point will the human race destroy itself in the pursuit of something it deems great? And how do we each take control of our own destiny in a world that may not let us?

I personally hope those who participated in Barbenheimer this weekend can appreciate the differences between the two films (whether they like one, or both, or neither of them), and maybe even understand just how vast and endless storytelling can really be.

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thatscrewyballyhooeyhollywood · 9 months

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Maritime Films #6

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

Director: Frank Lloyd

Starring: Clark Gable, Charles Laughton, Franchot Tone, Herbert Mundin, Dudley Digges, Eddie Quillan, Movita, and Mamo Clark

What a breath of fresh (sea) air! After slogging my way through Captain Blood (1935) recently, it was a real delight to watch this historic drama, in which everything - acting, cinematography, special effects, storyline - were just spectacular.

The yeaahhh-not-quite pride of the British Navy’s royal fleet, the HMS Bounty, is ordered to sail to Tahiti to collect breadfruit trees and transplant them to the West Indies as a food source for British slaves. The ship is captained by the brutal tyrant, William Bligh (Charles Laughton in what can only be described as a perfect performance) and his first mate lieutenant, Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable). After pressing - aka kidnapping and forcing - several local sailors into service aboard the Bounty, the ship sets sail for what is expected to be a 2-year journey.

Among the crew are the lovelorn Ellison (Eddie Quillan), who is loathe to leave his wife and newborn baby behind, the always drunk and always spinnin’ a yarn surgeon, Bacchus (Dudley Digges - also perfect), and the amiable, newly minted midshipman, Roger Byam (Franchot Tone), who quickly befriends Christian.

As the journey progresses, Bligh’s cruelty becomes increasingly unbearable - regular floggings, keelhauling (dropping sailors overboard and dragging them beneath the ship via a rope), and other tortures are meted out daily. Tempers start running short, and tensions are on the verge of exploding when the Bounty finally reaches Tahiti.

Welcomed to the island by the local communities, Byam and Fletcher both fall in love with indigenous women, Tehani (Movita) and Maimiti (Mamo Clark), respectively, and tensions aboard the ship are momentarily forgotten in the heavens of a tropical paradise. But alas, the crew must return to the Bounty, and it doesn’t take long for Bligh’s reign of terror to resume.

Fed up with the cruelty, Christian decides to take matters into his own hands. But not everyone is on his side in this fight, most notably his best friend, Byam, who wants the British navy to court martial Bligh when they return home. So, when the mutiny unfolds, it is more than just a tyrannical captain who has to survive - friendship, love, trust, loyalty, and freedom are all on the line.

And what a line! I loved this movie from the opening scene to the end credits!! As I mentioned above, Charles Laughton is absolute perfection. He is so loathsome as the evil Captain Bligh, but he also infuses a sense of sympathy and vulnerability in the post-mutiny scenes that really make his performance stand out. Clark Gable is also great, but two more favorites of mine were the surgeon Bacchus - his drunken yarns were much needed comic relief - and the hapless cook, Smith (Herbert Mundin), who didn’t say much, but still managed to make his mark in every scene he was in.

I also can’t get over the effects! What a long way filming sea epics has come since Down to the Sea in Ships (1922) and Moby Dick (1930). All the scenes of the Bounty at sea were absolutely stunning, including the detail paid to the sails and rigging. Someone put out a documentary STAT on how they filmed this movie because I am impressed beyond words. Well, maybe not beyond words since I have managed to pour a bunch of them here, but still!

4 out of 3 masts for this one!

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thatscrewyballyhooeyhollywood · 1 year

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Maritime Films #5

Captain Blood (1935)

Directed by: Michael Curtiz

Starring: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Lionel Atwill, and Basil Rathbone

I was very excited for this one. A movie about swashbuckling pirates? Count me in! But alas, this was not my favorite of those adventures on the high seas.

Flynn is the heroic Peter Blood, a 17th century medical doctor accused of treason when he is caught treating a patient who sustained injuries in a rebellion against King James II. Blood is dragged on trial, found guilty, and exiled to slavery on an island in the Caribbean. He is immediately purchased by the beautiful and vivacious Arabella Bishop (de Havilland), who has taken an instantaneous liking to the rebellious new slave.

As her infatuation grows, Arabella tries to improve Blood’s situation by recommending him as the personal physician to the local governor, and granting him more freedom to come and go from his slave quarters. Blood is outwardly resentful of Arabella’s kindness, but he takes the opportunity to recruit fellow slaves and plan an escape, and he doesn’t have to wait long to implement it. One night, Spanish pirates attack the island, and Blood’s group seize a galleon during the chaos of the fighting.

Now Peter Blood, former doctor and slave, is Captain Blood, the most feared and successful pirate in the Caribbean. But, try as he might, he can’t forget the beautiful Arabella, who showed him kindness in his darkest days. When Arabella herself is kidnapped by a rival pirate, the lascivious and sly Levasseur (Rathbone), Blood rushes to her rescue. But alas, all may not be well - it has been years since Arabella last saw Blood, and he didn’t leave on the best of terms. Will Blood save his lady love and win back her heart? Or has the feared pirate lost her forever?

While the film sounds like one grand pirate epic, I found myself depressingly bored about an hour in, and struggled to finish it. I can’t pinpoint any reason why I lost interest - the story moves along at a solid clip, the acting is fine, and there are some pretty stunning maritime battle sequences. But I just couldn’t stay focused on this one. I didn’t care what happened to Blood. I didn’t care what happened to Arabella. I had no interest in their stories at all. So maybe the acting wasn’t that fine??

1 out of 3 masts for this one, Im afraid.

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thatscrewyballyhooeyhollywood · 1 year

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Maritime Films #4

Tugboat Annie (1933)

Directed by: Mervyn LeRoy

Starring: Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, Robert Young, Maureen O’Sullivan, and Willard Robertson

Guess what? Marie Dressler is the GOAT. I absolutely adore her, and knew going into this 1933 comedy I was going to love it because she is in it. And the film (and Marie) did not disappoint!

In this romp, Marie plays Annie, the skilled captain of her beloved tugboat, Narcissus, the rather impatient wife to her drunken lout of a husband, Terry (Beery), and the proud and doting mother to her ambitious son, Alec (Young). Annie’s days are happily spent tugging ships in and out of Puget Sound, and making sure Terry doesn’t get into too much trouble. But things change for her when Alec comes home, the captain of a snazzy and swanky ocean liner, and engaged to his childhood playmate, Pat (O’Sullivan).

Annie is prouder than ever of her successful son, but Alec is weary of his father’s drunken escapades, and the strain his lifestyle is putting on his wife. Alec encourages Annie to give up the Narcissus and leave Puget Sound, an offer made all the more tantalizing when one of Beery’s drunken episodes results in the Narcissus getting repossessed by a rival tugboat company owned by Severn (Robertson). But, will Annie leave her husband - a lout he may be but the only one who has captured her heart - and her beloved tugboat life forever?

This movie was pure fun from start to finish. Not only was Dressler amazing, as expected, but Beery was her comedic equal in every scene. I know the two worked together a few times, and it is obvious why: they have amazing chemistry, and know how to ham it up with each other in truly delightful ways.

I also enjoyed the slant of this movie in portraying life aboard an ocean liner as elite, exquisite, and snobbish, and the achievement of merchant marine captain as an envious accomplishment, while working the tugboat service is salty, coarse, rough, and low-brow. An interesting social commentary on the class system of maritime life...

But, on the whole, I couldn’t recommend this one enough! 3 out of 3 masts!

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thatscrewyballyhooeyhollywood · 1 year

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Title card image from the Private Snafu cartoons (1943 - 1946)

Any solid teacher will tell you the way to make knowledge "stick" with a student is to make it relevant and personal.

And fun helps too.

That was the point of the Private Snafu cartoons. Conceived by legendary film director Frank Capra, who was in charge of putting together educational films for the Allied forces during WWII, Private Snafu was intended to teach the troops how to be soldiers, how their branch of the military works, and why it does what it does.

The goofball private, voiced by Mel Blanc (Snafu does sound exactly like Bugs Bunny), used wild antics, saucy animation, and oh yes, lots of humor, to explain to young GIs how to survive the military and the war.

And he was a huge hit. Writer Theodor Geisel - better known as Dr. Seuss - and directors Friz Freling and Chuck Jones knew their audience well, and they created cartoons that appealed to the mostly male older teens / young adults that made up the bulk of the armed forces. Raunchy jokes and sexual innuendo were in pretty much every cartoon, but so was sympathy and understanding.

He was so beloved that SNAFU came to be an acronym for his GI audience: Situation Normal, All F----d Up (with the F sometimes standing for "Fouled").

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thatscrewyballyhooeyhollywood · 1 year

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Maritime Films #3

Moby Dick (1930)

Directed by Lloyd Bacon

Starring: John Barrymore, Joan Bennett, Lloyd Hughes, and Noble Johnson

Well, it’s back to whaling ships in this 1930 adaptation of Herman Melville’s magnum opus. I should mention I did read “Moby Dick” once... in high school... more years ago than I care to admit, so I don’t remember much of it. I know there was a character named Captain Ahab, something about Ishmael, and a white whale. The rest of it is lost to time for me.

However, in spite of my complete lack of familiarity with the novel, I am pretty sure this John Barrymore-led drama / romance / adventure flick is a very, very, very loose adaptation.

Barrymore plays Ahab Ceely, not a sea captain at first but rather a lovable and jocular seaman on a whaling ship based out of New Bedford, MA. He returns home once every 3 years or so, and our film opens with him performing aerial stunts in the ship’s rigging as it pulls into port following a successful whaling excursion. Upon disembarking, Ahab sees his serious and rather boring brother Derek (Hughes) escorting the local minister’s gorgeous daughter Faith (Bennett) to church. Derek is hopelessly in love with Faith, and is not at all pleased when he sees the sparks fly between her and his reviled brother.

But even Derek can’t keep the two apart, and right before Ahab’s ship departs for another 3-year excursion, they declare their undying love and Faith promises to wait and marry Ahab when he returns. However, this next voyage brings an end to Ahab’s free-spirited jocularity and zest for life. After spotting and chasing a white whale, Ahab is seriously injured when the whale turns and attacks, and he is left crippled by the encounter.

When he returns to New Bedford, Ahab is sure Faith will want nothing to do with him - a conviction cemented when she runs away crying at the sight of him - so he declares war on Moby Dick. Back at sea, he is determined to find the whale and destroy it once and for all, whether it means he lives or dies too.

This was an enjoyable romp, and I thoroughly loved Barrymore’s performance (even though I doubt the novel’s Captain Ahab had 1/100th Barrymore’s humor). The scenes with the whale were also incredibly spectacular for 1930 - I have to admit, I’m still wondering how they filmed those sequences.

Of course, as with most movies from this era, there is a strong dose of racism mixed in here. In this case, it’s Noble Johnson’s character, Indigenous holy man Queequeg, who befriends Ahab and travels with him on his journeys to find the white whale. I lost count of how many times he was referred to as a “heathen,” and how many times his communications with his beloved water god were dismissed.

But, on the whole, this was another enjoyable maritime adventure. 3 out of 3 masts!

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thatscrewyballyhooeyhollywood · 1 year

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Maritime Films #2

Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1927)

Directed by Charles Reisner

Starring: Buster Keaton, Ernest Torrence, Marion Byron, and Tom McGuire

We move from romance to comedy, and from whaling ships in the North Atlantic to riverboats on the grand ol’ Mississippi, in this 1927 maritime farce starring one of silent film’s greats.

Keaton is William Canfield, Jr., a recent college grad newly arrived on the Mississippi River to meet his father, steamboat captain William Canfield, Sr. (Torrence). Senior and Junior haven’t seen each other in years, so after a comedic turn trying to find each other at the train station, the two are a little.... unsettled when they do meet. Junior is quiet, sensitive, and a tad shy; Senior is gruff, rugged, and just a smidge cantankerous.

They come from different worlds, but what can the two do but try to make it work. First is to get Junior out of those sissy clothes (vest, bowtie, and flat cap) and into steamboat sailor gear. Junior doesn’t take to that rough and tumble look, so he tries to meet dad in the middle and wears a naval officer uniform. That goes over like a broken paddle wheel.

And believe it or not, things take an even more complicated turn when one of Junior’s friends from college (and his secret crush), the beautiful Kitty King (Byron) also arrives on the Mississippi. It turns out her father, J.J. King (McGuire) owns a rival steamboat - The King - a far newer and more glamorous boat than Senior’s own Stonewall Jackson, and Kitty’s father is determined to put Senior out of business.

Sparks fly, fists fly, everything flies (!) in this silent comedy romp. And I do mean everything - among the many mishaps Junior has to navigate is a cyclone that tears apart the small river town! Not to mention a jailbreak, shuttling back and forth between two steamboats, and a mid-river rescue.

Keaton is always entertaining, and his comedy has never failed to make me laugh. I especially enjoyed a sequence where he carries an umbrella blown inside out like a regular umbrella. And his most famous stunt was quite impressive: standing outside when a house wall falls onto him... only he isn’t smashed because he happens to be standing where the window lands. Keaton had a real wall knocked over for the scene, and his mark had to be ex-act. If he had been standing just a few inches to one side or the other, he would have been hit and possibly killed.

A bit of a serious move for a movie that is anything but. Still, 3 out of 3 masts for this one!

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thatscrewyballyhooeyhollywood · 1 year

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The Northman (2022) film poster (Focus Features)

I haven't seen Robert Eggers' "The Witch," and I thought "The Lighthouse" was......... interesting (which is saying something as I generally love any movie with maritime elements in it). So, color me surprised: I was actually excited to see this one.

And I was not disappointed! In fact, I was blown away. Not only is "The Northman" a stunningly gorgeous movie - the production design and cinematography were breathtaking - but the legend at the heart of the story is also fascinating.

Amleth (played by an overly buff Alexander Skarsgard in the film) is the hero in an ancient Norse folktale believed to have inspired Shakespeare himself when he wrote "Hamlet." In the story as written by a Danish historian in the year 1200 CE, Amleth is a Danish prince playacting as insane after his uncle Fengo murders his father Horwendil and seizes the latter's wife and kingdom. Fengo isn't buying Amleth's insanity act, and he tries several times to trip Amleth up and catch him plotting revenge. But Amleth squeaks through each trap, and after a detour through England (thanks to yet another Fengo-laid-trap Amleth escapes), he finally kills his uncle in a brilliant ambush that involved crashing his own funeral and stealing his uncle's prized sword. With Fengo dead and revenge exacted, Amleth reclaims his throne.

Eggers' interpretation varies somewhat from the ancient Norse story. Here's one way to put it: four out of the five characters in the poster above don't live to see the end of the movie. And, with the exception of Anya Taylor-Joy, each one is directly correlated to a character in the Norse tale.

But I loved the richness of the Norse and Viking lore depicted in Eggers' movie, the magical realism of the story - in one scene, Amleth battles a long-dead warrior king to claim a powerful sword. In another sequence, one of Amleth's tears is caught and preserved as a small crystal, and then it is given back to him years later as a token for his quest. And there is a Valkyrie. That ancient world depicted on the screen felt so real.

And legendary.

And I feel like it did the Norse folktale proud.

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thatscrewyballyhooeyhollywood · 1 year

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Maritime Films #1

Down to the Sea in Ships (1922)

Directed by Elmer Clifton

Starring: Marguerite Courtot, Raymond McKee, William Walcott, Clara Bow, and Jack Baston

After attending a lecture on "Maritime History and Hollyood" a few weeks ago, I decided to undertake a quest, and watch a series of highly rated maritime films as recommended by the guest lecturer, and this 1922 silent romance is the first on that list.

Charles Morgan (Walcott) is a Quaker leader and retired whale ship captain in New Bedford, MA, whose life has been shattered by the loss of his son in a shipwreck. He pins what few hopes he has left on the shoulders of his daughter, Patience (Courtot), admonishing her to do the family proud, and "marry a Quaker whaleman!"

Unfortunately for Pops, Patience has fallen in love with the boy next door, Allan Dexter (McKee), newly returned home after graduating from college.

When Dexter's request to marry Patience is rejected (he is neither a Quaker nor a whaleman), the despondent suitor heads to a local tavern to drown his sorrows. But this is a busy port city in the 1800s, and as so often happened to single drinkers, Dexter is immediately shanghai'd: drugged unconscious and dumped aboard an outbound whale ship.

Alas, this is no coincidence! It turns out the villainous Samuel Siggs (Baston), hoping to claw his way to success and wealth (and we'll ignore the wildly racist fact that Siggs is supposed to be a "yellow" Asian passing himself off as a respectable white businessman), has ingratiated himself into the Morgan household. First, by tricking old man Charles into hiring him as an accountant, and now, he has his sights set on claiming Morgan's wealth for himself by marrying Patience. When Siggs sees she is not at all interested, he orchestrates Dexter's kidnapping, and then leads Patience to believe her true love "ran away out west." Problem solved!

Or is it? Patience's true love may be gone, but she still has no desire to marry Siggs, and besides, this is a romance. We can't leave it at that. Dexter adapts amazingly well to whaleship life, quickly climbing the ranks on his vessel and proving his skill as a seaman, but his success is short-lived as he soons finds himself caught up in a mutiny plot.

Meanwhile, Charles Morgan's wild and precocious granddaughter, Dot (a very young Clara Bow), wants to become a whaleman herself, so she stows away on the same vessel Dexter found himself on!

How will it all end? What happens when the crew of Dexter's ship finds a teenage girl on board? Will Patience have to marry Siggs, or will her true love arrive home in time? And will Dexter even survive, facing the untold dangers of a mutinous crew and hunting sperm whales in the North Atlantic?

Down to the Sea in Ships is a remarkable technical achievement. I don't want to think about how many whales and dolphins were likely hurt or killed to make this movie, but I can appreciate the skill it took to film a cast at sea with no CGI or green screen. And there were some truly gripping sequences, especially aboard the unnamed whaleship.

The cast was great, notably Clara Bow, who killed it in every scene, and the story was fun. I'd give this one a 3 out of 3 masts!

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