2019
Friday, September 13, 2019
It's Friday the Thirteenth!
Bebe Daniels has volunteered for a scientific experiment to see if there's any truth to the idea that it's bad luck to stand under a ladder on a Friday the Thirteenth.
Thursday, September 12, 2019
'Torchy Runs for Mayor' is a mixture of the really good and the really bad
Torchy Runs for Mayor (1939)
Starring: Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Tom Kennedy, John Miljan, John Downing, and Irving Bacon
Director: Ray McCarey
Rating: Six of Ten Stars
Reporter Torchy Blane (Farrell) takes on the city's corrupt political machine and underworld power broker Doc Dolan (Miljan), and after losing her career due to political pressure, she eventually becomes a candidate for the office of mayor herself.
"Torchy Runs for Mayor" was the eighth film in the Torchy Blane series, and it's at once both one of the best and one of the worst in the series.
First, what makes this the best film in the series: We get a good look at Torchy (Glenda Farrell) plying her trade as a story-at-any-cost reporter. In too many of the previous films, Torchy's workday has happened off-screen, but here we get to see her no only go about her ethically and legally questionable (and outright illegal) information gathering methods, but also her dealings with editors and publishers, as well as her working to turn her source material into column inches for print. We get to see a realistic reaction on the part of the police force when they are placed under political pressure from corrupt forces in the sense that instead of railing against Torchy and trying to shut her down, they got out of her way and quietly encouraged her to keep digging and poking at the bad guys--except for her long-suffering boyfriend Steve (Barton McLane) who genuinely fears for her life. (Although he's not so concerned that he doesn't join his Captain is executing an elaborate prank that becomes Torchy's inspiration to run for mayor). We also get to see long-running comic relief character Gehagan (Tom Kennedy) show that he is a capable police officer and useful for more than just taking up space. This film also has one of the most serious storylines and thrilling climaxes of any of the ones in the series; there's a sense that the characters are actually in danger and that things may not work out for them in the end.
Second, what makes this the worst in the series: A potentially fantastic villain, Doc Dolan played by John Miljan, ends up as an uninteresting cypher. We're told how powerful he is in both political and underworld circles, but we only get the slightest hint of this and we're never shown where that supposed power comes from. More to the point, this supposed criminal and political mastermind has to resort to kidnapping Torchy during the film's second half, something the character himself admits to Steve is a stupid thing to do (as a way of denying he did it), but that then begs the question as to why he kidnapped her. This question becomes even more vexing when one considers that he kept her alive and unconcious for at least a couple days--why? Why not just kill her and be done with her? The answer remains as mysterious as the nature of Dolan's powerbase... but it does ensure that Torchy is once again reduced to damsel-in-distress at the end of her own story and must be rescued by Steve. And, finally, the film doubles-down on Torchy being "just a woman" by ending with her quitting the office of mayor that she has just won in a landslide election to go off and marry Steve and have babies. (Yes, I just spoiled the ending.)
"Torchy Runs for Mayor" has the strongest script since the first couple of Torchy films, and the most dramatic storyline of all of them. As it unfolds, Torchy and Steve both are left without jobs, and there's a real sense that thnigs aren't going to end well for them as the story heads towards its climax. Naturally, things do ultimately turn out well for our heroes and heroine, and we're even given a sense of closure to the tale of Torchy and Steve that we've been following for the past seven movies; and it's a great closing, too.
At least it would have been if "Torchy Runs for Mayor" had been 20 or so seconds shorter. We still get closure for the story of Torchy and Steve, but it's a closure that betrays everything that Torchy has been about since she first strolled onto the screen, cracking wise. I realize that in the late 1930s, a woman's place was at home, but Torchy had been bucking that trend and fighting the good fight for eight movies, and now that she was in a place where she had the resources to really impliment change and justice on a large scale, she instead bows to conservative social convention and gives it all up--after the public clearly said they were okay with a woman mayor in charge of the city. (The only good point about this totally botched ending is that Steve is as taken aback by Torchy's announcement and total change of heart and character as I was. He was, naturally happy, as he and Torchy exited Stage Right... where I was left irritated and borderline angry to the point where the film dropped from a solid Seven Rating to a low Six.)
Although the story wraps up so neatly in this picture that it feels like the last "Torchy Blane" film, there was one more made. This film was the last for Farrell and McLane, but the characters they portrayed would be back, embodied by different performers. I'll find out if this should have been the last Torchy film, period, at some point in the future. When I do, I'll tell you all about it in this space.
Starring: Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Tom Kennedy, John Miljan, John Downing, and Irving Bacon
Director: Ray McCarey
Rating: Six of Ten Stars
Reporter Torchy Blane (Farrell) takes on the city's corrupt political machine and underworld power broker Doc Dolan (Miljan), and after losing her career due to political pressure, she eventually becomes a candidate for the office of mayor herself.
"Torchy Runs for Mayor" was the eighth film in the Torchy Blane series, and it's at once both one of the best and one of the worst in the series.
First, what makes this the best film in the series: We get a good look at Torchy (Glenda Farrell) plying her trade as a story-at-any-cost reporter. In too many of the previous films, Torchy's workday has happened off-screen, but here we get to see her no only go about her ethically and legally questionable (and outright illegal) information gathering methods, but also her dealings with editors and publishers, as well as her working to turn her source material into column inches for print. We get to see a realistic reaction on the part of the police force when they are placed under political pressure from corrupt forces in the sense that instead of railing against Torchy and trying to shut her down, they got out of her way and quietly encouraged her to keep digging and poking at the bad guys--except for her long-suffering boyfriend Steve (Barton McLane) who genuinely fears for her life. (Although he's not so concerned that he doesn't join his Captain is executing an elaborate prank that becomes Torchy's inspiration to run for mayor). We also get to see long-running comic relief character Gehagan (Tom Kennedy) show that he is a capable police officer and useful for more than just taking up space. This film also has one of the most serious storylines and thrilling climaxes of any of the ones in the series; there's a sense that the characters are actually in danger and that things may not work out for them in the end.
Second, what makes this the worst in the series: A potentially fantastic villain, Doc Dolan played by John Miljan, ends up as an uninteresting cypher. We're told how powerful he is in both political and underworld circles, but we only get the slightest hint of this and we're never shown where that supposed power comes from. More to the point, this supposed criminal and political mastermind has to resort to kidnapping Torchy during the film's second half, something the character himself admits to Steve is a stupid thing to do (as a way of denying he did it), but that then begs the question as to why he kidnapped her. This question becomes even more vexing when one considers that he kept her alive and unconcious for at least a couple days--why? Why not just kill her and be done with her? The answer remains as mysterious as the nature of Dolan's powerbase... but it does ensure that Torchy is once again reduced to damsel-in-distress at the end of her own story and must be rescued by Steve. And, finally, the film doubles-down on Torchy being "just a woman" by ending with her quitting the office of mayor that she has just won in a landslide election to go off and marry Steve and have babies. (Yes, I just spoiled the ending.)
"Torchy Runs for Mayor" has the strongest script since the first couple of Torchy films, and the most dramatic storyline of all of them. As it unfolds, Torchy and Steve both are left without jobs, and there's a real sense that thnigs aren't going to end well for them as the story heads towards its climax. Naturally, things do ultimately turn out well for our heroes and heroine, and we're even given a sense of closure to the tale of Torchy and Steve that we've been following for the past seven movies; and it's a great closing, too.
At least it would have been if "Torchy Runs for Mayor" had been 20 or so seconds shorter. We still get closure for the story of Torchy and Steve, but it's a closure that betrays everything that Torchy has been about since she first strolled onto the screen, cracking wise. I realize that in the late 1930s, a woman's place was at home, but Torchy had been bucking that trend and fighting the good fight for eight movies, and now that she was in a place where she had the resources to really impliment change and justice on a large scale, she instead bows to conservative social convention and gives it all up--after the public clearly said they were okay with a woman mayor in charge of the city. (The only good point about this totally botched ending is that Steve is as taken aback by Torchy's announcement and total change of heart and character as I was. He was, naturally happy, as he and Torchy exited Stage Right... where I was left irritated and borderline angry to the point where the film dropped from a solid Seven Rating to a low Six.)
Although the story wraps up so neatly in this picture that it feels like the last "Torchy Blane" film, there was one more made. This film was the last for Farrell and McLane, but the characters they portrayed would be back, embodied by different performers. I'll find out if this should have been the last Torchy film, period, at some point in the future. When I do, I'll tell you all about it in this space.
2019
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
Carol Lynley has passed away
Carol Lynley, who over the course of her long career appeared in movies and TV series of almost every genre, passed away on September 3, 2019 at the age of 77. Here's a gallery of pictures in her memory.
A few of the films Lynley appeared in are "Bunny Lake is Missing" (1965), "Harlow" (1965), "The Shuttered Room" (1967), "The Maltese Bippy" (1969), "Once You Kiss a Stranger" (1969), "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972), "The Night Stalker" (1971), "The Four Deuces" (1973), "The Shape of Things to Come" (1979), "The Cat and the Canary" (1979), and "Spirits" (1990). She also played 11 different characters over the seven-year run of ABC's "Fantasy Island".
In memory of Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden was one of the biggest assholes in the history of the world. His main achievement in life was motivating and organizing the mentally deficient and psychopaths to murder innocent, unsuspecting civilians just going about their lives. His greatest "success" was being the mastermind behind the mass-murder of 3,100 people across three different states on 9/11/2001. When relaxing, he enjoyed looking at gay pornography, watching anime, and raping under-aged girls. (Click here for a previous post remembering Osama bin Laden.)
(Oh... and since whenever I've done posts like this in the past, I've gotten angry responses and even a threat or two, I'll just go ahead and say it now and save everyone some time: If you have any admiration for, or nice things to say about Bin Laden and like-minded individuals, I hope that you get to watch those you love die slow and agonizing deaths before you, yourself, fuck off to Hell. Your comments will most likely go un-posted and your threats will be laughed at.)
(Oh... and since whenever I've done posts like this in the past, I've gotten angry responses and even a threat or two, I'll just go ahead and say it now and save everyone some time: If you have any admiration for, or nice things to say about Bin Laden and like-minded individuals, I hope that you get to watch those you love die slow and agonizing deaths before you, yourself, fuck off to Hell. Your comments will most likely go un-posted and your threats will be laughed at.)
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
The Love Quarterly: Happy Birthday, Bessie!
Monday, September 9, 2019
Musical Monday with Ghost Funk Orchestra
Check it out, and tell me if you don't fall in love with this quirky rock group from New York. (You can get current information about what they're up to on their Facebook page by clicking here.)
Sunday, September 8, 2019
Robbers and Trains and Violence--Oh My!
The Great Train Robbery (1903)
Starring: Justus Barnes, Gilbert 'Broncho Billy 'Anderson, George Barnes, Mary Snow, and Tom London
Director: Edwin S. Porter
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars
A gang of murderous outlaws successfully rob a train, but are later pursued by an equally blood-thirsty possee.
"The Great Train Robbery" is one of those "historically important" films that anyone but scholars and critics or the hardest of the hardcore film buffs "need" to see. While I have been aware of the film since at least my days as a wee film student in college, I don't recall actually watching it before now. So... have I missed much?
Well, yes and no.
In the "no" department, the film has all the exaggerated, hyped up gestures by the actors that make early silent movies (and bad late ones) so hilarious to watch. (There isn't a lot of that here, but there's enough to make me chuckle when I should be feeling shocked ) I am also not sure I accept the notion that this was the "first narrative film", but maybe years of writing roleplaying game scenarios has lowered the bar in mind as to what qualifies as a narrative; To my eye, there seems to be just as much of a structured plot in "The Astronomer's Dream" from 1898 as there is in this film.
On the "yes" side, I think it's safe to say that this is the first Western movie, and there are a number of tropes that we find here for the first time. From a pure entertainment perspective, the action is also very fluid and holds up nicely... and there's a level of violence that I found startling--shocking even--for a film of this age. In fact, the action--the prelude to and the train robbery itself, the posse chasing the bandits, and the climactic shoot-out--are all so well-staged and filmed that the ten minutes spent watching this movie seem a fraction of even that short time span.
If you are into silent movies--or just well-made films in general--I highly recommend you take ten minutes out of your day to watch "The Great Train Robbery. There are many versions it available for viewing on YouTube and elsewhere, but the one I've chosen to imbed in this post features an excellent original musical score by Andreas Brink.
By the way, you'll notice shocks of color while watching this. These have apparently been present on the film since the earliest releases. For me, some of these were very effective while others were more distracting than mood-enhancing for me.
Starring: Justus Barnes, Gilbert 'Broncho Billy 'Anderson, George Barnes, Mary Snow, and Tom London
Director: Edwin S. Porter
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars
A gang of murderous outlaws successfully rob a train, but are later pursued by an equally blood-thirsty possee.
Well, yes and no.
In the "no" department, the film has all the exaggerated, hyped up gestures by the actors that make early silent movies (and bad late ones) so hilarious to watch. (There isn't a lot of that here, but there's enough to make me chuckle when I should be feeling shocked ) I am also not sure I accept the notion that this was the "first narrative film", but maybe years of writing roleplaying game scenarios has lowered the bar in mind as to what qualifies as a narrative; To my eye, there seems to be just as much of a structured plot in "The Astronomer's Dream" from 1898 as there is in this film.
On the "yes" side, I think it's safe to say that this is the first Western movie, and there are a number of tropes that we find here for the first time. From a pure entertainment perspective, the action is also very fluid and holds up nicely... and there's a level of violence that I found startling--shocking even--for a film of this age. In fact, the action--the prelude to and the train robbery itself, the posse chasing the bandits, and the climactic shoot-out--are all so well-staged and filmed that the ten minutes spent watching this movie seem a fraction of even that short time span.
If you are into silent movies--or just well-made films in general--I highly recommend you take ten minutes out of your day to watch "The Great Train Robbery. There are many versions it available for viewing on YouTube and elsewhere, but the one I've chosen to imbed in this post features an excellent original musical score by Andreas Brink.
By the way, you'll notice shocks of color while watching this. These have apparently been present on the film since the earliest releases. For me, some of these were very effective while others were more distracting than mood-enhancing for me.
Saturday, September 7, 2019
'This is the Night' is fluffy nonsense
This is the Night (1932)
Starring: Roland Young, Charles Ruggles, Thelma Todd, Lila Damita, Cary Grant, and Irving Bacon
Director: Frank Tuttle
Rating: Six of Ten Stars
To cover up the affair between his friend Gerald (Young) and the wife (Todd) of an Olympic athlete (Grant), , and to allow them to continue to carry on, Bunny (Ruggles) arranges for an actress (Damita) to pose as Gerald's wife.
"This is the Night" is an amusing film that, to the modern lover of old movies, is remarkable primarily because it's the great Cary Grant's very first screen appearance. He is part of a cast made entirely of great performers, and his charm and screen presence leaps off the screen, even as he shares scenes with actors who also have strong presences as well as a lot more experience in the film medium, like Thelma Todd and Charles Ruggles.
Interestingly, Grant's charisma is actually an element that works against this film rather than for it. Grant's character, Stephen, is presented in dialogue that he is supposed to be menacing. Not only does his status as an Olympic Games-level javelin thrower worry Gerald, but Thelma Todd's character, Claire, implies that Stephen is a jealous fiend who beats her. None of this rings true, because even at his most suspicious and jealous and angry over being played for a fool while his wife carries on her extra-marital affair (or attempts to), Stephen comes across at most sardonic. Later in his career, Grant ably brought menace to his charm--in "Notorious" and "Charade" to mention two examples)--but at this point, his acting skills weren't developed to that point.
The lack of menace that Grant brings to Stephen's character undermined the central premise of the film for me: That Claire would be interested in Gerald over Stephen. Both men appear to be wealthy and urbane, but Stephen is far more handsome than Gerald, not to mention a world-class athlete and smart enough to be fluent in at least three different languages. I may not know what a woman wants in man, but seriously? What woman would choose Roland Young over Cary Grant, even if everything else but looks was equal?
While I can imagine that Claire would step out (or stay in) with Gerald when Stephen is away on one of his many trips, I can't imagine that she'd bother to attempt to carry on her affair with Gerald once they've almost been caught. Her jealousy over Gerald's fake wife therefore seems even more unbelievable to me; Stephen is clearly the keeper--even if he has an annoying habit of singing at random times--depending on how serious his mean/violent streak is.
Ultimately, though, this hardly matters, because everything about this film is good-natured, with the characters strolling in and out of rooms while constantly quipping and engaging in light slapstick humor. (There's a running gag with Gerald's manservant inadvertently causing Clair to be near-naked in pubic--although, alas-alack, we viewers never get to see Todd in her unmentionables in this one, despite the fact she was regularly parading around in them in the short comedies she was making for the Hal Roach Studio around this time.) Making the audience laugh seem to be the main motivating factor in how this film is constructed, and by the time it's over, all of its events add up to little more than lighthearted nonsense... and since I had the feeling there were no aspirations beyond that, I felt perfectly fine with that.
While "This is the Night" is certainly worth watching for Cary Grant fans, it is equally worthwhile for anyone who just enjoys fine comedic performances. Charles Ruggles and Thelma Todd are in particular fine form here--Todd is the closest thing this film has to a villain, and she's fantastic; Ruggles is alternatively the funniest clown in the picture, or the most sympathetic character, and he is perfect in every scene.
As for the top-billed stars of the film, Roland Young and Lila Damita, they were consistently outshone by the supporting cast. In Young's case, it was because everyone else had better lines and better jokes (in addition to the fact that it was unbelievable that Todd would be pursuing his character over Grant's), but with Damita, it was an issue of screen presence. She wasn't a bad actress, and she was certainly pretty, but she just didn't have the ability to command the screen the way even neophyte Cary Grant did. (This actually seems to be a common observation I make about these 1930s romantic comedies; the characters around whom the story supposedly revolves are often the least interesting ones, performed by the blandest of actors and actresses. The latter isn't the case here, but the former certainly is.)
"This is the Night" is fast-paced and very funny. It kept me entertained from beginning to end, and it would have gotten a Seven of Ten Star-rating if not for two very distracting things. First, most outdoor night scenes are tinted blue, possibly to show that romance was afoot, but to me it was just annoying. Second, there's a scene where Young locks Damita in her bedroom... and then a few minutes later demands that she unlock the door, or he's going to break it down. He had just locked the door, the key should still be in the lock since he didn't appear to take it--and despite my granting that this film is just a bunch of fluffy nonsense that's an error so glaring that it was the final factor that pushed it from a Seven to a Six.
Nonetheless, fans of Thelma Todd, Charles Ruggles, and Cary Grant will find the time spent watching "This is the Night" to be time well spent.
Starring: Roland Young, Charles Ruggles, Thelma Todd, Lila Damita, Cary Grant, and Irving Bacon
Director: Frank Tuttle
Rating: Six of Ten Stars
To cover up the affair between his friend Gerald (Young) and the wife (Todd) of an Olympic athlete (Grant), , and to allow them to continue to carry on, Bunny (Ruggles) arranges for an actress (Damita) to pose as Gerald's wife.
"This is the Night" is an amusing film that, to the modern lover of old movies, is remarkable primarily because it's the great Cary Grant's very first screen appearance. He is part of a cast made entirely of great performers, and his charm and screen presence leaps off the screen, even as he shares scenes with actors who also have strong presences as well as a lot more experience in the film medium, like Thelma Todd and Charles Ruggles.
Interestingly, Grant's charisma is actually an element that works against this film rather than for it. Grant's character, Stephen, is presented in dialogue that he is supposed to be menacing. Not only does his status as an Olympic Games-level javelin thrower worry Gerald, but Thelma Todd's character, Claire, implies that Stephen is a jealous fiend who beats her. None of this rings true, because even at his most suspicious and jealous and angry over being played for a fool while his wife carries on her extra-marital affair (or attempts to), Stephen comes across at most sardonic. Later in his career, Grant ably brought menace to his charm--in "Notorious" and "Charade" to mention two examples)--but at this point, his acting skills weren't developed to that point.
The lack of menace that Grant brings to Stephen's character undermined the central premise of the film for me: That Claire would be interested in Gerald over Stephen. Both men appear to be wealthy and urbane, but Stephen is far more handsome than Gerald, not to mention a world-class athlete and smart enough to be fluent in at least three different languages. I may not know what a woman wants in man, but seriously? What woman would choose Roland Young over Cary Grant, even if everything else but looks was equal?
While I can imagine that Claire would step out (or stay in) with Gerald when Stephen is away on one of his many trips, I can't imagine that she'd bother to attempt to carry on her affair with Gerald once they've almost been caught. Her jealousy over Gerald's fake wife therefore seems even more unbelievable to me; Stephen is clearly the keeper--even if he has an annoying habit of singing at random times--depending on how serious his mean/violent streak is.
Ultimately, though, this hardly matters, because everything about this film is good-natured, with the characters strolling in and out of rooms while constantly quipping and engaging in light slapstick humor. (There's a running gag with Gerald's manservant inadvertently causing Clair to be near-naked in pubic--although, alas-alack, we viewers never get to see Todd in her unmentionables in this one, despite the fact she was regularly parading around in them in the short comedies she was making for the Hal Roach Studio around this time.) Making the audience laugh seem to be the main motivating factor in how this film is constructed, and by the time it's over, all of its events add up to little more than lighthearted nonsense... and since I had the feeling there were no aspirations beyond that, I felt perfectly fine with that.
While "This is the Night" is certainly worth watching for Cary Grant fans, it is equally worthwhile for anyone who just enjoys fine comedic performances. Charles Ruggles and Thelma Todd are in particular fine form here--Todd is the closest thing this film has to a villain, and she's fantastic; Ruggles is alternatively the funniest clown in the picture, or the most sympathetic character, and he is perfect in every scene.
As for the top-billed stars of the film, Roland Young and Lila Damita, they were consistently outshone by the supporting cast. In Young's case, it was because everyone else had better lines and better jokes (in addition to the fact that it was unbelievable that Todd would be pursuing his character over Grant's), but with Damita, it was an issue of screen presence. She wasn't a bad actress, and she was certainly pretty, but she just didn't have the ability to command the screen the way even neophyte Cary Grant did. (This actually seems to be a common observation I make about these 1930s romantic comedies; the characters around whom the story supposedly revolves are often the least interesting ones, performed by the blandest of actors and actresses. The latter isn't the case here, but the former certainly is.)
"This is the Night" is fast-paced and very funny. It kept me entertained from beginning to end, and it would have gotten a Seven of Ten Star-rating if not for two very distracting things. First, most outdoor night scenes are tinted blue, possibly to show that romance was afoot, but to me it was just annoying. Second, there's a scene where Young locks Damita in her bedroom... and then a few minutes later demands that she unlock the door, or he's going to break it down. He had just locked the door, the key should still be in the lock since he didn't appear to take it--and despite my granting that this film is just a bunch of fluffy nonsense that's an error so glaring that it was the final factor that pushed it from a Seven to a Six.
Nonetheless, fans of Thelma Todd, Charles Ruggles, and Cary Grant will find the time spent watching "This is the Night" to be time well spent.
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
The Milla Jovovich Quarterly
Presenting the Moods of Milla...
 |
| Glad Milla... |
 |
| ... Sad Milla ... |
 |
| ... Mad Milla! |
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
'Suspense' is one of the earliest cinematic thrillers... and it's still highly effective
Suspense (1913)
Starring: Lois Weber, Sam Kaufman, Valentine Paul, Douglas Gerard, and Lule Warrenton
Directors: Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars
A young woman (Weber) is home alone with baby when a homicidal hobo (Kaufman) decides to break into the isolated house.
"Suspense" is a film that lives up to its title. It's a very early cinematic thriller that doesn't waste a second of its ten-minute running time on anything that doesn't build suspense. From establishing the house's isolation, to presenting the home invader in a sinister fashion, though the husband's desperate attempt to make it home to save his wife after her plea for help is cut off in mid-sentence... it's all edge-of-your-seat stuff. The film is strengthened further by fairly restrained performances (compared to what you might find in other films from this time).
What makes "Suspense" even more entertaining and engaging for modern viewers is the creative and, for the time, innovative approach taken in the cinematography. There's an impressive use of three-way split-screen at various points in the film when the wife is on the phone with her husband, as the deadly intruder is drawing closer. There are also numerous shots that use mirrors to expand the visual depth of a scene, or to allow the viewer to see what is going on in two different directions. Overall, the way the film elegantly shows events happening simultaneously at different locations, or tries to give a sense of a 360-degree view of the unfolding action, is exciting stuff even more than 115 years later. (The only thing that keeps this film from getting a Ten of Ten rating is that the ending isn't quite what it could have been, I think. But it's a very narrow miss.)
Several different versions of "Suspense" is available for viewing on YouTube. It can also be found streaming on Netflix as part of the "Early Women Filmmakers" package under the Classics category. The Netflix version has a better musical soundtrack than any of the ones I checked out on YouTube, but for those of you without Netflix who want to take ten minutes to watch this great film, I've embedded the best of the YouTube versions below.
Trivia: Lois Weber appeared in over 140 films, and she directed or co-directed roughly 100 of those. During the early 1920s, she was counted among Universal Pictures' best directors, but after her personal production company went bankrupt, her career stalled.
Starring: Lois Weber, Sam Kaufman, Valentine Paul, Douglas Gerard, and Lule Warrenton
Directors: Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars
A young woman (Weber) is home alone with baby when a homicidal hobo (Kaufman) decides to break into the isolated house.
"Suspense" is a film that lives up to its title. It's a very early cinematic thriller that doesn't waste a second of its ten-minute running time on anything that doesn't build suspense. From establishing the house's isolation, to presenting the home invader in a sinister fashion, though the husband's desperate attempt to make it home to save his wife after her plea for help is cut off in mid-sentence... it's all edge-of-your-seat stuff. The film is strengthened further by fairly restrained performances (compared to what you might find in other films from this time).
What makes "Suspense" even more entertaining and engaging for modern viewers is the creative and, for the time, innovative approach taken in the cinematography. There's an impressive use of three-way split-screen at various points in the film when the wife is on the phone with her husband, as the deadly intruder is drawing closer. There are also numerous shots that use mirrors to expand the visual depth of a scene, or to allow the viewer to see what is going on in two different directions. Overall, the way the film elegantly shows events happening simultaneously at different locations, or tries to give a sense of a 360-degree view of the unfolding action, is exciting stuff even more than 115 years later. (The only thing that keeps this film from getting a Ten of Ten rating is that the ending isn't quite what it could have been, I think. But it's a very narrow miss.)
Several different versions of "Suspense" is available for viewing on YouTube. It can also be found streaming on Netflix as part of the "Early Women Filmmakers" package under the Classics category. The Netflix version has a better musical soundtrack than any of the ones I checked out on YouTube, but for those of you without Netflix who want to take ten minutes to watch this great film, I've embedded the best of the YouTube versions below.
Trivia: Lois Weber appeared in over 140 films, and she directed or co-directed roughly 100 of those. During the early 1920s, she was counted among Universal Pictures' best directors, but after her personal production company went bankrupt, her career stalled.
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