Things to Come

“Things to Come” apparently doesn’t have a good reputation, but I absolutely adored it. I’m a sucker for forward-thinking science-fiction, especially when they have a cautionary tale tagged on. This doesn’t just go into the 60s and 70s, it continues well on into the 2030s and whilst it obviously gets quite a lot wrong, it is correct in that war will always continue and people will always misuse technology for selfish gains. It’s also kind of beautiful in that art deco 1930s way.

Make Way For Tomorrow

Absolutely tragic. Even though I saw “Tokyo Story” first and the two films share a lot of the same story beats, there’s room for both in this world. Both deal with ageing parents whose children simply don’t have any time for them what with their new busy lives. It’s a tricky needle to thread to avoid showing the children as callous, selfish and uncaring. But they genuinely do have far too much going on in their modern lives and they aren’t neglecting their parents deliberately. And that ending…oh my…tears.

Angels With Dirty Faces

Obviously I knew of this one through the Home Alone parody “Angels With Filthy Souls” although….this doesn’t really have a lot to do with it. Neither of the characters in the parody map neatly onto ones from the original, and James Cagney isn’t a gun-mad crazy guy.

I absolutely adored this one. The pacing was perfect, there wasn’t a single shot which felt like it wasn’t needed, everybody brought their A-game and the ambiguous ending was just the grand finale it needed. Did he chicken out? Or was he doing it to save the kids? Who knows.

It also shows that it’s possible to have two stars in the same film without them vying for screen-time – Bogart and Cagney both do their parts well. Something “Guys and Dolls” and “The Towering Inferno” would struggle with.

The Lady Vanishes / Laura / Notorious

I really only knew Hitchcock from his later colour films (and Psycho, being deliberately black and white), but his earlier works are just as good. He really was a force to be reckoned with, and even his mediocre releases are better than most of his contemporaries. A master of pacing.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Ah, they finally managed to get James Stewart. He was born for this role. Despite officially being unrelated, everybody seems to link this one in with Mr Deeds Goes to Town. It’s…complicated. Apparently it was supposed to be a direct sequel with the same guy, but officially it’s not. Perhaps it’s for the best it wasn’t as that would make Mr Deeds rather much of a Marty Stu character who just breezes through life solving problems through ignorance and good nature. Not exactly a good role model.

Gone With The Wind

Perhaps proof that it’s possible to disagree with the message of the film while still appreciating it’s craft. But then again, Scarlett is clearly shown to be in the wrong for most of the runtime – she rejects and annoys everybody around her in pursuit of her hollow dream, and when she gets it she’s utterly alone. But is she happy? Probably not. I don’t think we’re supposed to sympathise with her. Sure, it is rather revisionist in making the South out to appear not as bad as they were especially when it came to slavery, but she’s not exactly a good person. She’s shallow and selfish, and tramples over everybody she meets yet doesn’t understand why nobody wants anything to do with her.

It’s very epic in the best sense of the word, and the “Burning of Atlanta” scene is astounding even today, perhaps because they did it for real.

No, I haven’t read the book and I’m not interested.

Fantasia

I never really got into Fantasia as a kid and still don’t think it’s amongst Disney’s greatest, but Kaa is a massive fan despite not liking Disney (the company) very much. But I respect it. Perhaps the issue was that it overreached in a time when most of the world was cut-off from the United States, hampering it’s distribution. It probably also didn’t help that Walt initially insisted theatres upgraded their sound equipment before they were allowed to screen it. But it did push forward the acceptance of multi-channel audio and it was a wonderfully creative idea. I get the impression that contemporary classical music fans thought it was borderline sacrilegious, and kids would probably be bored. So…who exactly was the target audience?

The Mortal Storm

Apparently one of the first films to show the impact of Hitler’s reign on everyday people in Germany, especially Jewish people. Goes about as well as can be expected though I’m surprised they weren’t forced to sugar coat the story. I thought at this point in the war America was taking care not to antagonise the Germans? James Stewart is great as always, with a role he can really get his teeth into.

Pinocchio

I used to pass over this one a lot when going through the Disney canon, but watching it for this trial I was surprised at how dark and twisted it got. I’ve recently seen Del Toro’s Italian-fascist-regime version of the story, and THAT was bleak as expected, but the Pleasure Island segment of this film is the stuff of nightmares! And the animation especially in the opening segment is GORGEOUS. They really were pushing boundaries at the time.

Citizen Kane

I’m not really sure what can be said about this film that hasn’t already been said by people with better literary skills than me. It really is quite incredible….a tour de force by somebody who knew exactly what they wanted to make, and if the technology didn’t exist then he got someone to make it. If somebody didn’t understand how to portray a scene the way he wanted, Welles did it himself. He was a great actor as well as director. Not just for film buffs or people learning cinematography though. It’s also a fascinating propaganda piece and a great way of showing how editing and presentation can influence an audience’s opinion.

Sullivan’s Travels

When somebody takes “method acting” way too far. A rare comedy from this era which is still laugh out loud funny today. It’s interesting that people didn’t care for it much when it was first released – perhaps the moral wasn’t upfront enough. I don’t want to say that maybe people weren’t sophisticated enough to appreciate it, but certainly people nowadays are more educated in film language and are perhaps more willing to look below the surface to see what a film is trying to tell them.

The Maltese Falcon

The first noir I ever saw so it left something of an impression on me. Hits every single cliche you’d expect but doesn’t make them feel trite or overused. I love the fact you never actually see the titular object throughout the film, meaning the Falcon could be literally anything – all that matters is that it’s what people are fighting over. That concept has been used many MANY times since and it’s very effective, because it allows people to project whatever they desire onto it.

Dumbo

Barely an hour long and not overly complicated but that’s perhaps why it succeeds. Disney was short on money after the war (having lost access to the European theatres) and needed a quick return. A nice simple story, a silent protagonist, and one of the most delightfully deranged sequences ever shown in animation. Pink elephants? Yes please. It doesn’t really add much to the plot and could have been easily cut, but it’s absolutely fantastic and I’m glad they didn’t. As for “When I See an Elephant Fly”? I know it’s controversial, but it’s still a damn catchy song and most of the aggro could have been dealt with my simply casting race-appropriate actors and toning down the vernacular a little. Oh well. Still a great film.

Mrs. Miniver

Let’s just say that there weren’t many American war films which focused on Britain, and managed to do so without being patronising. We made lots of great war films about Britain but this is one of the best American ones about us.

Casablanca

We used to have a weekly film night where we’d watch crap films and make fun of them. It was fun…I got to pick the films and we did it for a number of years, but some of us felt that we were missing an opportunity to actually watch GOOD films. So from time to time we also had a night where we’d just watch one really GOOD film that we voted on in advance. And the first choice was Casablanca. It really is that good. It has everything you could want from a so-called “Classic”. A good story, good acting, well staged and extremely quotable. Also, deliberately not going into the predictable ending. It’s one of those rare old Hollywood films that I think you could show to a Millennial and they would actually understand what all the fuss was about. You don’t have to say “Well, it’s cliched NOW but it wasn’t THEN” or “Yes, I know it’s predictable but technically it’s very clever.” Humphrey Bogart should have won the Oscar.

Brief Encounter

David Lean makes a film which isn’t a 3 hour Panavision epic with thousands of extras. Sadly that’s what he spent the rest of his career doing. But this shows that he can make a simple, personal story about real people rather than historical figures. I originally had no idea this was a Noël Coward play. Perhaps because I just can’t imagine him in the lead role, which he commonly did for his stage shows.

I think it’s more popular in the UK than in the US, but I’m fine with that. Perhaps some things don’t translate. Apparently Hallmark had a go in the 70s but it was awful. I have no desire to see that one.

It’s a Wonderful Life

Yes, I know it’s hackneyed and overly saccharine and the kid is annoying, but if you don’t well up at that final scene then there is something wrong with you. But it’s not just about that – it has just the right amount of levity to deal with the rather serious subject matter, and James Stewart absolutely nails his performance in the “Pottersville” segment. You’ll get chills when he stares into the camera.

A Matter of Life and Death

In addition to my capsule review, I’d just like to say that it was a really interesting design choice to have the real world in colour and the afterlife in black and white. I would have thought the temptation would be to make the afterlife in Technicolour to emphasise it’s other-worldliness. Though I suppose doing it in monochrome makes it seem unreal and fictional.