In 2004, Steeplejack put together a 2-part movie list for eclare – they were friends in real life, long before they reconnected on Balloon Juice.
So here’s one last set of movie recommendations from Steeplejack to all of us, via eclare.
== 10:40 a.m. Mon 3 May 04.
E. Clare,
Here’s the first part of your list, concentrating on the earliest days of film and on some foreign trends. The earliest, shortest films don’t come on individual tapes. You’ll have to poke around for anthologies. There’s one called (I think) “The Movies Are Born” that includes “The Great Train Robbery” and some shorts by Méliès and the Lumière brothers. I think I’ve seen them at Blockbuster occasionally; they might be more likely to be found at Movies Worth Seeing.
Anyway, take this as a rough guide, not as a tough homework assignment. You don’t have to watch everything, but try a sample and maybe try to go in rough chronological order.
—B.
The beginning:
– Auguste and Louis Lumière. Credited by some with “inventing” cinema, they showed a program of films in Paris in December 1895. I think there is an anthology collection of their early stuff, which is mostly trains coming into stations, views of the sea, etc. Interesting as a starting point.
– “Lumière and Company,” various directors. This was released in the late 1990s. Various directors were given a reproduction of a Lumière camera and invited to make a one-minute film. Many of them are stunning. (One name: David Lynch!)
– “A Trip to the Moon” (1902), Georges Méliès. Méliès made many short films; this one is probably his most famous.
– “The Great Train Robbery” (1903). Early, basic narrative; the first “Western.”
Early epics:
– “The Birth of a Nation” (1915) or “Intolerance” (1916), D.W. Griffith. Griffith was a genius. Except for the addition of sound, you’ve got practically every technique of film narrative here, only twenty years after the beginning.
– “Greed” (1924), Erich von Stroheim. A damaged classic. The original was something like nine hours, most of which has been lost. What remains is still powerful. Von Stroheim is the classic example of the domineering director. He later made some great ’30s movies with Marlene Dietrich.
Silent comedies:
– “The Gold Rush” (1925), Charles Chaplin.
– “The General” (1927), Buster Keaton.
Either one of these is pure gold.
German expressionism:
The camera doesn’t lie. Or does it?
– “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1920), Robert Wiene. Crazy people.
– “Nosferatu” (1922), F.W. Murnau. Vampires.
– “Metropolis” (1927), Fritz Lang. Robots. Lang later did “M,” which we saw at Movie Night.
Technical virtuosity:
– “Battleship Potemkin” (1925), Sergei Eisenstein. Eisenstein was the master of montage (cutting between images to construct a scene). The “Odessa steps” sequence is one of the most famous in film history.
French lyricism:
– “Grand Illusion” (1937), Jean Renoir. POWs in World War I. Renoir is one of the greatest, and most subtle, directors.
Italian neorealism:
– “Open City” (1945), Roberto Rossellini.
– “The Bicycle Thief” (1948), Vittorio De Sica.
You don’t have to have a bazillion dollars (or lire) to make a great movie.
The classic Hollywood musical:
– “42nd Street” (1933).
– “Gold Diggers of 1933” (1933).
– “Top Hat” (1935). Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
== 11:11 a.m. Tue 11 May 04.
E. Clare,
Movie seminar, part 2: Hollywooden, film noir, German from the ’20s but not expressionist, war movies.
Big-time Hollywooden (in the best sense) productions:
– All About Eve (1950). Bette Davis at her bitchiest. “Faster your seatbelts; it’s going to be a bumpy night.”
– The Searchers (1956). John Wayne in one of his best (and most atypical) roles. Yes, he could act. And arguably a masterpiece by the director, John Ford. Visually stunning.
– The Night of the Hunter (1955). Robert Mitchum as a really creepy villain and Lillian Gish as a flinty old woman. Nice seminar bookend; she was in The Birth of a Nation(Elsie Stoneman) and Intolerance (the cradle rocker).
– Some Like It Hot (1959). Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe, directed by Billy Wilder. Two guys on the run go undercover in an all-girl band. Very funny and not dated.
– The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). POWs under the Japanese. Excellent performances by Alec Guinness, William Holden and others. Could go in the war-movies category.
Film noir:
– Laura (1944). Noir, yes, but with slightly campy overtones. Great plot twist, great theme song.
– Out of the Past (1947). Real noir, no camp. Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, Jane Greer.
– Double Indemnity (1944). Fred MacMurray as a hard guy?! Yes. And Barbara Stanwyck in full femme fatale mode. Directed by Billy Wilder.
German from the 1920s but not expressionist:
– Pandora’s Box (1929). Okay, the Germans weren’t just making weird movies to annoy you in the ’20s. Let’s talk decadence. Louise Brooks, an American, is scorching as a beautiful prostitute with problems. Picture attached. ’Nuff said. Many years later Brooks wrote a memoir of the silent film days that is quite good.
– The Last Laugh (1924). No title cards at all, and the camera moves all over the place. Emil Jannings headed for tragedy as the doorman at a hotel. Directed by F.W. Murnau (Nosferatu).
War movies:
– All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). An epic directed by Lewis Milestone, whose career went from the silent era all the way up to the original Ocean’s Eleven. Good “transitional” sound movie, i.e., lots of it was shot as silent film and then overdubbed with simple sound effects.
– The Big Parade (1925). Another epic, directed by King Vidor. If you want a “pure” silent film for your war movie, this is gold, Jerry, pure gold.
– They Were Expendable (1945). PT boats in the Philippines after Pearl Harbor. An underrated classic from John Ford. This is excellent B&W Ford, as opposed to the Technicolor Ford of The Searchers. Good acting from Robert Montgomery, John Wayne and, if you can believe it, Donna Reed in semi-hot mode. Excellent cinematography.
– Battleground (1949). Trapped in the Battle of the Bulge. Good depth, excellent cinematography. Good director (William Wellman) with a good cast: Van Johnson, James Whitmore, George Murphy, Ricardo Montalban and lots of recognizable B-team faces.
– The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). Directed by William Wyler. Three guys come home from World War II and try to readjust. Some shmaltz, but surprisingly deep. Good acting from Dana Andrews, Fredric March and a strong supporting cast.