Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

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The Saragossa Manuscript (1965)
Rekopis znaleziony w Saragossie (original title)


Director: Wojciech Has (as Wojciech J. Has)
Writers: Tadeusz Kwiatkowski, Jan Potocki (novel)
Cast: Zbigniew Cybulski, Iga Cembrzynska, Elzbieta Czyzewska
Genre: Comedy Drama
Language: Polish

"Upon finding a book that relates his grandfather's story, an officer ventures through Spain meeting a wide array of characters, most of whom have a story of their own to tell."

I'd guess that in it's time and location, which was communist Poland 1965 that this film worked well. I've noticed that films from that region of the world often are big on folk lore. Which makes sense as those countries have a long history of peasant folk stories being used as narrative in song, dance, plays and with the advent of film...in movies.

What I thought was interesting was how similar the comedy elements were to films being made in Hollywood during the mid 60s. Whenever I think of American mid 60s comedies I think of the whimsical, wink at the audience, carefree type of humor. Which unfortunately I can't stand. The Saragossa Manuscript reminded me of a well known British comedy Tom Jones (1963), a film I also can't stand. Luckily here the comedy elements weren't that obvious....

But the film was sure long! I guess if you've stood in line all day to get a sack of potatoes, then going to the local communist theater to see a 3 hour movie would be a joy. I might have liked this a bit more at 90 minutes, as the story within a story idea grew tiring after awhile, but at first seemed neat.

I did like the lead actor, he was really good at getting emotions across with his face...I swear I've seen him before, but nay I doubt it. My favorite parts were his interaction with the two Muslim sisters. Were they identical twins in real life? At times they looked like it. The server girl with one exposed breast was funny in a odd way. But it wasn't sexy at all, just odd to see a wardrobe look like that.

I liked the desert rocks and the strangeness of it, but I think the film showed that too many times and it lost some of it's effectiveness. Same with all the skulls and the skull chalice...after awhile they looked more like props, but I bet the communist workers were impressed back in the day.





[b]
Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
El laberinto del fauno (original title)

del Toro is one of my favorite directors... because of his fantasy aspect... I love how he mixes fairytales with any other genre...

the story of the pale man in PL is amazing storytelling..

I even tried my hand at writing a story about him.



del Toro is one of my favorite directors... because of his fantasy aspect... I love how he mixes fairytales with any other genre...

the story of the pale man in PL is amazing storytelling..

I even tried my hand at writing a story about him.
Who was the Pale Man? Was he the big creature that appeared to the little girl? I dug the fantasy part, but not a fan of the director. I just looked and see he wrote and directed Shape of Water, I didn't care for that one. Did you like it?



del Toro got his inspiration of the Pale Man from the painting of Saturn Devouring His Son




Who was the Pale Man? Was he the big creature that appeared to the little girl? I dug the fantasy part, but not a fan of the director. I just looked and see he wrote and directed Shape of Water, I didn't care for that one. Did you like it?
I loved the Shape of Water

He did "Blade 2", "Hellboy", "Hellboy 2: The Golden Army", "Mimic", "Cronos", "The Devil's Backbone", "Pacific Rim", "Crimson Peak" and he worked on several other films with other directors..


The Golden Army from Hellboy 2 is from the Irish Myth of Nuada Airgetlám, the leader of the Tuatha Dé Danann, an early race of people. They fought against the Fomorians, another ancient race of people who were destructive to nature.



@Citizen Rules

Both Hellboy 2 The Golden Army and the film "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" which was directed by Troy Nixey and Screenplay written by Guillermo del Toro share something in common... they both have a creature that I call "Calcium Eaters".



@Citizen Rules

Both Hellboy 2 The Golden Army and the film "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" which was directed by Troy Nixey and Screenplay written by Guillermo del Toro share something in common... they both have a creature that I call "Calcium Eaters".
Calcium Eaters? That sounds interesting in an odd way, I can't image what a Calcium Eater would be but it's curious sounding.



the creatures do look different.. but they both eat bone.. mainly teeth

Hellboy 2

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark




Benny's Video (1992)
Director: Michael Haneke
Writer: Michael Haneke
Cast: Arno Frisch, Angela Winkler, Ulrich Mühe
Genre: Crime, Drama

"A 14-year-old video enthusiast is so caught up in film fantasy that he can no longer relate to the real world, to such an extent that he commits murder and records an on-camera confession for his parents."


Benny's Video is a film about a family of super dumb asses. OK maybe Benny is suppose to be a sociopath or perhaps autistic or something. I mean he has no emotions and verily can communicate. That aspect of him would have been worthy of film study. But instead the director fills his film with lots of filler shots that don't add a damn thing to the story but felt like padding (singing scenes, shots of the photos done by mom, random shots of the city) all felt like left over film footage and gave the film an overall cheap feeling.

I get it that some of the scenes are poorer video quality because they represent what Benny has been filming. But the director uses too much of non-story telling shots and we really get very little insight into Benny...except he's from a family of really stupid people.

I couldn't believe how stupid the parents act in the one scene where they discuss how they will send Benny out of town, while the dad gets rid of the girl's body. What was so poorly done in this scene is how the actress who plays the mom kept smirking right before she would talk. It was horrible, it looked like she was on the verge of laughing all the time...The parents reaction was all so unbelievable that it took me out of the movie. And I did like the movie from the point where Benny meets the girl to the point where his parents find out what he's done... But after they witness the video tape of the killing, it becomes less interesting, which is odd as I would have expected the emotions to ramp up more after the dilemma comes to a head.

Not a fan of the pig killing at all. Shock film making=Schmuck film making. I don't know if the pig was killed directly for the film, if so the director should go to jail. If the pig was already to be killed for food and was just filmed as it was done, OK not unethical, but still shock film making is done in lieu of deeper film making skills.

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Of Mice and Men (1939)

Director: Lewis Milestone
Writers: John Steinbeck (novel), Eugene Solow (screen play)
Cast: Lon Chaney Jr, Burgess Meredith, Betty Field
Genre: Drama


I seen this once, long ago and I always remembered it. It's a potent film with an intelligent, well crafted script based on the classic Steinbeck novel. And it's deep with the way it delves into the human condition.

This isn't just about Lenny, a mentally slow childlike man with the strength of an ox. It's about people who have no future but desperately need to dream of having one. It's about depression era people wanting some sort of security like a place of their own. But even more than that, it's about lonely people who are isolated and are starving for some form of human interaction.

We see that in Mae (Betty Field)...her husband has one hell of an attitude and takes it out on his wife by cutting her off from human contact. We see it in Crooks (Leigh Whipper) the black man who's forced to live in a shack by himself. Like Mae he's not allowed to interact with the farm hands and so he dies a bit inside from lack of friendship. We see it in the lonely old man with one hand, who's only friend is his aging dog.

And ultimately we see this yearning for a better life in George (Burgess Meredith) who's smart enough to get somewhere in life, but is being held back by his cousin Lenny who he's saddled with.

This is so much more than just the ending scene, which is really symbolic for being free from that which holds you down.

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Red Dust (1932)

Director: Victor Fleming
Writers: John Lee Mahin (screenplay) (as John Mahin), Wilson Collison (stageplay)
Cast: Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Gene Raymond
Genre: Pre-Code Drama


Rockin good fun! That's the way I like my movies and Red Dust delivered. Clark Gable as the roguish, tough & rumble boss of a tropical rubber plantation, coupled with the unabashed, brassiness of platinum blonde Jean Harlow...what more could you ask for in film? I loved the exotic feel of the rainy, steamy jungles in a remote region where just about anything could happen. That's world building and I talk about that a lot in my reviews. Well that's because escaping for a brief while into an enticing movie world is appealing to me.

Wow, was that really Mary Astor, I never seen her look so young, I'm use to the older version of her, like in The Maltese Falcon. I hardly recognized her here.

The story was bold, ruckus and fun...I loved the playfulness that Jean Harlow brought to the screen. I've never thought she was that pretty, I mean where has her eyebrows gone too? But she's so cool and so fun that her performance is infectious....like malaria!...all hot and chilly at the same time. I don't think she's the greatest actress, but she sure has style! So does Clark Gable, back in the day women swooned over him and men wanted to be like him. Gable is cool!

My favorite scenes are Gene Harlow in the bathtub, such a fun scene. I read that during filming of the rain barrel scene, she stood up...topless and said 'here's one for the boys in the film lab'....Hot damn! Oh and for some reason I got a kick out of her scraping the parrot poop out of the bottom of the bird cage, and commenting that it was 'hard as cement'. Only in a pre-code film would you see that!





Virtue (1932)
Director: Edward Buzzell
Writers: Robert Riskin (screenplay), Ethel Hill (story)
Cast: Carole Lombard, Pat O'Brien, Ward Bond
Genre: Drama


"A relationship gradually develops between a savvy New York street girl and a good-hearted cab driver, but other matters keep getting in their way, including financial problems and a murder."

I'm impressed...The dialogue was refreshingly fluid and natural, especially for an early 1930s film. These people sounded real, not like they were reading a script written by a screen writer. So it was very easy for me to get engrossed into the story, as the word play exchanges between Carole Lombard and Pat O'Brien was so unassuming that I took these people as real.

The acting wasn't even acting, they were their characters. I knew Carole Lombard was good, but damn she was so good in this drama, and mostly I've seen her in comedies. And yet it's her natural comic talents that makes this drama...potent. She quickly won me over and I wanted to see this ex prostitute find happiness with Pat O'Brien. Just watch Carole's face as she does her funny little smile, as she bites her lower lip and rolls her eyes in a telling way. She had it! It's too bad she didn't get to make more movies.



Pat O'Brien was real good too. The thing is he's not an overly colorful actor like Clark Gable or James Cagney so he often doesn't get mentioned in list of great film stars, but he should be* His working class type character is perfect for the story. And what a story!

The more I think about the film's story line the more impressed I am. It's quite sophisticated without throwing any below the belt punches. It hits more on a reflective level and the more I reflected on it, the more I'm convinced this is a great story. What struck me the most was how Mae (Carole Lombard) came to realize that her husband would always view her in a 'certain dim light' because of her past history. She knows instinctively that his anger over the missing $200 isn't really about the money, it's an excuse to blame her for his anger over marring her...
The film cleverly starts off with Jimmy (Pat O'Brien) telling his friend that women all have rackets and scheme to get what they want. He doesn't trust women! and doesn't want to ever get married. But then he goes and falls for Mae. And when he finds out she was a prostitute he marries her anyway out of pride to prove he never will welsh on a deal. That gives him resentment towards her, and finally she resents that. Which I thought was all a good eye on human nature.






I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang (1932)

Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Writers: Robert E. Burns (autobiography), Howard J. Green (screenplay)
Cast: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson
Genre: Crime Drama


Based on the autobiography book of the same title by Robert E. Burns, the man who was a fugitive from a chain gang! When this film came out the injustices and brutality of the southern chain gang prisoners plight became a hot topic of the day and eventually this film helped bring about an end to the corruption in the chain gangs.

I bet audiences in 1932 were shocked out of their seats by this exposé on the corruption & abuse of the southern prison system. Hell, if this was the 1930s and I had just seen this movie, I would NEVER EVER set foot in Georgia.

So did I like it? Yes! Paul Muni was great in this and it was totally great to see how a chain gang operated, yikes!...

Kudos to Glenda Farrell, the blonde girlfriend who knives him in the back. I've never seen her play a role like this one, usually she's in comedies and is the likable brassy blonde with a sharp wit and a big heart.




Hey @Citizen Rules

Have you seen "The Shepherd of the Hills"?
No, but I'd like to. I've been wanting to watch some John Wayne films. I haven't seen many of his. And I see it has the girl from Of Mice and Men Betty Field. I liked her too.



No, but I'd like to. I've been wanting to watch some John Wayne films. I haven't seen many of his. And I see it has the girl from Of Mice and Men Betty Field. I liked her too.
Yeah, its a good story... of course being a Missourian.. my father used to watch it everytime its on tv.... I have seen it countless times





Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937)
Ninjô kami fûsen (original title)


Director: Sadao Yamanaka
Writer: Shintarô Mimura
Cast: Chôjûrô Kawarasaki, Kan'emon Nakamura, Tsuruzô Nakamura
Genre: Drama
Language: Japanese

"The lives of two slum neighbors, one of a happy-go-lucky gambler and the other of a poor ronin, converge when the two get involved with the affairs of a powerful samurai official and his gangsters."

I liked this quite well as it was done in a relaxed, slice of life way and the people were shown to be very human. I got a kick out of the various colorful characters: the shifty hair dresser, the meek man with a letter for the big boss, the blind man who could 'see' very well, the landlord...and my favorite was the goldfish seller. Totally neat that we see the fish he has when he nets them and puts them into barrels.

It seemed like the kidnapping of the bride to be was kind of glossed over. I thought that might be the big dramatic part of the film. But then I realized this isn't a highly dramatic film, it's intended to be a study of a cross section of working poor people who live in little apartments...as shown in that photo.

I thought the first part was fascinating in that these people seem to live in little apartments inside another building...at least I think it was a building? It looked like the back wall had huge clay pots and was a couple of stories tall. At one time you could see people moving on that back wall. That set was something I've not seen in a vintage Japanese film before. All the sets were well done in that they looked to be in a crowded run down section of Edo.

I'm not so sure about the accuracy of the English translated sub titles, some of the phrases were definitely modern, like 'having balls', broads' etc. But oh well, I still liked the movie even if the subs vernacular was more modern than the time period of the film.




Yeah, its a good story... of course being a Missourian.. my father used to watch it everytime its on tv.... I have seen it countless times
I'll put that onto my watch list. Now I have a real big watch list, but it sounds good. Thanks for telling me about it, I never heard of it before.



I'll put that onto my watch list. Now I have a real big watch list, but it sounds good. Thanks for telling me about it, I never heard of it before.
Then when you get your vacation time again.. you know there is this

https://theshepherdofthehills.com/

Amusement Park
Outside Theatre..
and other things to do...

Its near Branson Missouri.. the southwest corner of the state.




Mad Love (1935)

Director: Karl Freund
Writers: Maurice Renard (novel), Florence Crewe-Jones (adaptation)
Cast: Peter Lorre, Frances Drake, Colin Clive
Genre: Horror, Sci Fi, Drama


"In France, an insane surgeon's obsession with an actress from England leads him to replace her pianist husband's hands that got mangled in an accident with the hands of a late knife murderer which still have the urge to throw knives."

A case study of what happens to a brilliant but pompous little man who's dedicated his life to intellectual pursuit and finds himself having never known love. The results? MAD LOVE takes over!

I learn a LOT from movies after they're over and I go to find photos for my review. With Mad Love...there are so many wickedly cool images, that I could plaster this post with a wall board of them, and that's what I loved about Mad Love, it's visually wild imagery. It's not a deep movie, it's not a particularly emotional film, but it's balls to the walls, crazy good fun. The entire movie literally screams, 'kick back, and enjoy the wild spectacle'. The celluloid carnival ride starts at the get-go, with the title credits, when the hand smashes the glass pane. Cool!

Peter Lorre is wildly over the top, and...that's the way it should be with this movie, as it's that kind of flick.


What a visual wow that costume is. He looks like an early Hannibal Lecter there. Loved that scene and how Lorre, who was very quiet and almost shy in the first part of the film, became a cackling mad man driven insane by his MAD LOVE. Peter Lorre makes the film rockus fun.

And geez! Colin Clive ends up looking strange himself with those mutilated grafted on hands. I hadn't seen Frances Drake in anything else that I know of, but I liked her. I swear the wax mannequin looked just like her


Mad Love is a movie that has it all, a guillotine scene. A drunken old house keeper with a parrot on her shoulder, OMG! A pushy loud American reporter played by Ted Healey and without his Three Stooges. Then there's Keye Luke a real Asian American actor and he's cast in a very respectable role here. Keye Luke is best known as Master Po from the Kung Fu TV series. Oh and the opening stage play of a torture chamber scene is a big bonus. Damn this film has it all.