Month: September 2016

Rasputin (1930)

RASPUTIN (1930)
(a.k.a. RASPUTIN, DAMON DER FRAUEN)
Article #1394 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-7-2005
Posting Date: 6-6-2005
Directed by Adolf Trotz
Featuring Conrad Veidt, Paul Otto, Hermine Sterler

This is the story of Rasputin’s rise to power and subsequent assassination.

With this, I’ve now seen four different biopics of Rasputin from four different countries; RASPUTIN AND THE EMPRESS from the U.S.A., RASPUTIN, THE MAD MONK from Great Britain, THE NIGHT THEY KILLED RASPUTIN was an Italian/French coproduction, and this one is from Germany. It’s also in German without subtitles, so I’m glad it’s far enough down the line that my familiarity with the story can help me to follow it. With all due respect to Christopher Lee and Lionel Barrymore, Conrad Veidt is probably the best actor to assay the role, and as far as I can tell given the language barrier, he does a fine job here. Still, it’s difficult to make any real evaluation of the movie. The fantastic aspects are even more muted here; Rasputin’s use of hypnotism isn’t obvious from the visuals, though the faith-healing aspect does play a role in keeping it near the realm of fantastic cinema. I do feel that Rasputin’s death scene here is the best of the many versions I’ve seen.

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The Queen of Spades (1949)

THE QUEEN OF SPADES (1949)
Article #1393 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-6-2005
Posting Date: 2-5-2005
Directed by Thorold Dickinson
Featuring Anton Walbrook, Edith Evans, Yvonne Mitchell

A captain in the army has become obsessed with a card game called Faro, but refuses to play unless he is sure of winning. He stumbles across the story of a woman who sold her soul to the devil for the three-card winning combination that guarantees success, and he resolves to find the secret for himself.

This opulent production of an Alexander Pushkin story takes some getting used to. It’s beautifully directed and stylistically rich, and has some of the most interesting-looking people this side of a Fellini film, but the editing is jarring at times, and it’s a little hard to warm up to the movie. However, this jarring sense also increases the eeriness and the sense of dread, and this pays off very well by the time the final scenes roll around. The first third of the story sets up the mood and the situation. The middle third becomes something of a soap opera, as we follow the captain’s attempted seduction of the beautiful ward of a countess, and for a while the movie feels as if it’s lost its way. However, once the captain confronts the countess in an attempt to wring the secret from her, the movie never lets up, and the ending is startling, powerful and memorable. It’s a beautiful movie to look at, and features fine performances from all, especially Anton Walbrook as the obsessed captain and Edith Evans as the ancient countess. The scene where the captain finally learns the secret is truly terrifying.

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The Night They Killed Rasputin (1960)

THE NIGHT THEY KILLED RASPUTIN (1960)
(a.k.a. LES NUITS DE RASPOUTINE)
Article #1392 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-5-2005
Posting Date: 6-4-2005
Directed by Pierre Chenal
Featuring Edmund Purdom, Gianna Maria Canale, John Drew Barrymore

After curing the heir to the throne of the Czar, Rasputin becomes a favorite at court. However, a cabal who consider him a threat to Russia plot his death.

Fantastic content: Rasputin is one of those historical characters whose life lends itself at least marginally to the horror genre. In particular, his use of hypnotism and his near indestructability lend themselves to the genre.

This is third biography of Rasputin I’ve seen for this series, and though both RASPUTIN AND THE EMPRESS and RASPUTIN, THE MAD MONK are both better known and somewhat better received, I actually think this one is my favorite. For one thing, it’s the one that made me the most curious about the historical details of Rasputin’s life. It’s also the one that gives the character of Rasputin the most dimension; he’s given his good qualities as well as his bad ones. Edmund Purdom isn’t as memorable as Christopher Lee in the role, but he does well enough, and all in all I think this version of the story is better staged and better written than the Lee version. The dubbing is even of a higher quality than usual. It plays down the horror elements in favor of the dramatic ones, and all in all I found it quite satisfying. One interesting note: John Drew Barrymore plays the prince, the same role that his father played thirty years earlier when he appeared in RASPUTIN AND THE EMPRESS.

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Nabonga (1944)

NABONGA (1944)
Article #1391 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-4-2005
Posting Date: 6-3-2005
Directed by Sam Newfield
Featuring Buster Crabbe, Barton MacLane, Fifi D’Orsay

An explorer is intent on finding a fortune in jewelry that was lost in the jungle due to a plane crash.

All hail NABONGA! This is what jungle epics are all about! What more can you ask for?? It’s got brutal action! It’s got hot, savage romance! You’ll see sights that you never dreamed possible! You’ll see the production values of Hollywood at its most elaborate! You’ll see some of the brightest stars to ever shine in the Tinseltown sky! You’ll see — uh, you’ll see —

Wait a second.

(DS slaps himself several times across the face.)

That’s better.

Please excuse the reaction. The fact of the matter is that this low budget jungle flick from PRC is the first I’ve seen since FORBIDDEN JUNGLE, and compared to that one, this one looked like CITIZEN KANE. It’s simply that this middling jungle movie looks so much better in every department. I found myself appreciating the mere fact that at least some effort was made to make the jungle set here look like a real jungle, that some effort was made to tell its story in an effective way, and that the acting showed a certain level of competence. Actually, on its own terms, it’s really not too bad. It keeps the safari section from taking over the movie, it has a slightly offbeat plot for a jungle movie, Prince Modupe plays a more dignified jungle native than is usually found in these movies, and the scene where Julie London (the girl who grew up in the jungle with the gorillas) flirts with a nervous Buster Crabbe (the explorer), who is more concerned about incurring the wrath of Julie’s protector, Samson the gorilla (Ray Corrigan) actually comes across as being comic by design. Still, this scene does have one howler line, to wit — “You must be that white witch I’ve heard so much about.”

P.S. I can’t believe I used the phrases “PRC” and “production values” in the same review.

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Maria Marten, or The Murder in the Red Barn (1935)

MARIA MARTEN, OR THE MURDER IN THE RED BARN (1935)
Article #1390 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-3-2005
Posting Date: 6-2-2005
Directed by George King
Featuring Tod Slaughter, Sophie Stewart, D.J. Williams

A peasant woman loses her respectability to the local magistrate, but he promises to marry her. When the magistrate then loses a gambling bet, he chooses instead to marry a rich heiress. The peasant woman then threatens to tell her story, and the magistrate decides to get rid of her once and for all. Much acting ensues.

In any sort of serious movie, Tod Slaughter’s gleeful, mad, eye-rolling performances would have proven serious handicaps. As for as I know, though, Slaughter never made that mistake, and stuck to the mellerdrammer form where the sheer shamelessness of his scenery-chewing proved positively sublime. This one takes a little while to get going, but once Slaughter tries his hand at murder, there’s no end to the theatrics. His refusal to show the least embarassment is his greatest asset; his total commitment to his muse brings these static movies to life in a way that make them amazing cinematic novelties. For my money, this one has one of his best performances, especially during the sequences where he is awaiting his execution and where he finds himself trapped into revealing his crime. They don’t make ’em like this anymore; in fact, if it hadn’t been for Slaughter, I don’t think they would have made them like that then either. Slight horror elements (the murder scene, Slaughter’s madness) nudge the movie into marginal horror.

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