Month: March 2021

Filibus (1915)

Filibus (1915)
Article 5552 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-10-2018
Directed by Mario Roncoroni
Featuring Mario Mariani, Cristina Ruspoli, Giovanni Spano
Country: Italy
What it is: Supervillainess vs. detective

Supercriminal Filibus sets up a trap for the detective who is trying to discover her identity by which he himself will be mistaken for her

Here’s an Italian take on the French supervillain genre pioneered by Louis Feuillade; this is like a long episode of Feuillade’s FANTOMAS serial. In fact, it looks like it was intended to be the first in a series; the ending of this one seems to promise more Filibus adventures, though as far as I can tell, this is the only one made. Filibus has some sci-fi gadgetry to help her; she works out of an airship, uses a sleep spray, and has a technique to use other people’s fingerprints in her crimes. There is also a miniature camera that may be a little advanced for its time. It’s entertaining if a little far-fetched; it’s hard to believe that the villain can sneak up on people by being lowered in a big canister from an airship so high it can’t be seen. It also has the novelty in that the primary villain is a woman rather than a man.

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The Spoiled Darling’s Doll (1913)

The Spoiled Darling’s Doll (1913)
Article 5551 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-6-2018
Director unknown
Featuring Marie Eline, Helen Badgley, David Thompson
Country: USA
What it is: The reform of a brat

A spoiled brat has a nightmare where her doll comes to life to teach her a lesson.

From what I gather, Marie Eline (who plays the spoiled brat) was quite the sensation in her day, at least until she started aging. And there’s no doubt that she gives a great performance as the spoiled brat from hell. However, for this short to work, we need a performance from someone else that equal’s Eline’s, and that’s the role of the even younger child playing Eline’s doll. Helen Badgley is effective enough imitating a doll and being a bit creepy, but when the story requires that she put the brat through the same ringer that the brat has been putting the servants through, she falls a long ways short. To some extent, you only really know what’s going on during the dream sequence because you have an inkling as to what is supposed to be going on. Still, if this short doesn’t quite work, there are the pluses of Eline’s performance, and the last few minutes of the short, where we see how the parents and servants react to the changed Eline; I have to admit that the latter did make me laugh a bit.

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Noch pered Rozhdestvom (1913)

Noch pered Rozhdestvom (1913)
aka Christmas Eve
Article 5550 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-5-2018
Directed by Wladyslaw Starewicz
Featuring Ivan Mozzhukhin, Olga Obolenskaya, Lidiya Tridenskaya
Country: Russia
What it is: Literary adaptation

On Christmas Eve, a blacksmith woos the daughter of a Cossack, who will only marry him if he brings her the shoes of the tsaritsa.

This short is based on a short story by Gogol; the title translates directly as “The Night Before Christmas”, but since that title conjures up an association with a poem that has nothing to do with this story, I’ve opted for the “Christmas Eve” translation. Unlike most of Starewicz’s work, this is not animated; outside of a short segment where a tiny devil jumps into the blacksmith’s pocket, it’s all live action. As such, it’s not quite successful; in this form, the story is a bit confusing , which is apparently not an issue with the original story (which I’ve not read), and though the make-up and costume for the devil are fun, overall it lacks the magic of Starewicz’s other work. It may have assumed a certain familiarity with the short story, which was probably much better known in Russia at that time than it is here today. Actually, I’ve reviewed a number of movies that have been based on Gogol’s works; he might be an author worth exploring further.

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The Unusual Honeymoon (1912)

The Unusual Honeymoon (1912)
Article 5549 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-3-2018
Directed by James Young
Featuring Charles Edwards, Flora Finch, Rose Tapley
Country: USA
What it is: Tall tale

A Scotsman and his wife set loose in a hot-air balloon at a local fair, and end up stranded on an island with cannibals, which they keep at bay by playing the bagpipes.

This short got on my suggestions list on the strength of a plot point whereby the natives believe the bagpipes are “magic”. This, along with a couple of other points (the presence of cannibals, and the “tall tale” device of keeping the cannibals at bay by throwing snuff at them, causing them to be too busy sneezing to be a threat) make the short marginally fantastic, but only just so. As might be expected, it’s mostly played for laughs. Beyond that, there’s really not a whole lot to this one, and it’s pretty slow to get the story moving; the couple don’t reach the balloon until a third of the way through.

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Cinderella, or The Glass Slipper (1912)

Cinderella, or The Glass Slipper (1912)
aka Cendrillon ou La pantoufle merveilleuse
Article 5548 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-2-2018
Directed by Georges Melies
Featuring Louise Lagrange, Jacques Feyder, Marthe Vinot
Country: France
What it is: Fairy tale

This is pretty standard late period Melies; he’s still glued to his tableaux style of filming, and he’s more interested in special effects and spectacle than story-telling. Granted, when the story is as familiar at this one, you don’t need to spend a lot of time in telling it, but during the scenes where he’s advancing the plot, it’s pretty dull. The special effects are fun, though not quite as tight as in his better shorts. In fact, he goes out of his way to add more special effects sequences; the creation of the carriage takes much longer than necessary, and a scene where Cinderella is terrorized by a giant clock striking midnight is also unneeded, albeit fun. As far as the spectacle goes, I notice that Melies has a favorite technique; he crowds the frame with as many characters as possible. If you’re a Melies fan, this is a passable short, but I do wonder how it would have gone if Melies had studied and incorporated the new cinematic techniques pioneered by the likes of D.W. Griffith. As it is, it’s another example of why he eventually fell out of favor as a filmmaker.

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Modern Times (1936)

Modern Times (1936)
Article 5547 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-1-2018
Directed by Charles Chaplin
Featuring Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman
Country: USA
What it is: Chaplin comedy

After he has a nervous breakdown on the job, the little tramp falls in love with a young woman and attempts to find a way to make a living in the modern world.

It’s a tribute to Chaplin’s star power that he was able to make what amounted to a silent movie this late in the sound era. This wasn’t, however, due to slavish idolatry of an antiquated convention; it had been intended as his first sound film, but it became apparent to Chaplin that his “little tramp” character worked best within the silent conventions. Chaplin actually makes very creative use of sound; it gives him control over the musical soundtrack, and he allows words to be heard at strategic moments. In fact, he even lets the tramp sing at one point, albeit in gibberish. This movie and CITY LIGHTS are often praised as Chaplin’s finest moments, but I have to confess I’m a hair disappointed at this one; despite the fact that much of the movie is brilliantly staged, I don’t find myself laughing very much, though I do appreciate both the satirical observations and the pathos. The fantastic contents are mostly confined to the scenes of the futuristic factory, full of enormous machines and closed-circuit televisions; I suspect Chaplin may have been a bit influenced by METROPOLIS here.

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The Phantom in the House (1929)

The Phantom in the House (1929)
Article 5546 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-29-2018
Directed by Phil Rosen
Featuring Ricardo Cortez, Nancy Welford, Henry B. Walthall
Country: USA
What it is: Crime drama

An inventor takes the fall for a murder committed by his wife. When he is paroled fifteen years later, he discovers his wife has made a fortune from his patents and changed her identity so as to avoid the stigma of having been married to a convict. His plan to keep out of her life changes, though, when she decides to keep their daughter from marrying her true love, and he stays around to defend his daughter.

Of all the words in movie titles that conjure up visions of the fantastic, I’d have to pick “phantom” as the most deceptive; there are quite a few movies with that word in the title which contain little or no fantastic content, and this is one of them. Here the word is metaphorical; the convict’s decision to hang around makes him an unwanted “ghost” of the past. Here is another one I wouldn’t be covering if it weren’t on my suggestions list. On its own terms, however, it’s actually pretty decent, especially considering its creakiness as an early talkie. Walthall is the convict, and he should get top billing because he’s the main character, and he gives the best performance here. The thing I admire most is how concise the story is; the plot is pretty involved for a movie that runs only about 58 minutes. In fact, when the movie throws in a major plot turning point with only about three minutes left to go, I found myself wondering how in the world they were going to resolve it all with the limited time left. Still, this is one of those movies where the primary plot motivation throughout involves people trying to keep the truth from being known, and I always find such stories to be a little suspect.

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Song at Midnight (1937)

Song at Midnight (1937)
aka Ye ban ge sheng
Article 5545 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-28-2018
Directed by Weibang Ma-Xu
Featuring Menghe Gu, Ping Hu, Shan Jin
Country: China
What it is: China’s first horror movie

A group of traveling actors come to town and set up shop in a dilapidated space. The lead actor is coached by a mysterious hooded figure who hides in the building. This hooded figure has a tragic story…

IMDB describes the movie as China’s first horror movie, and perhaps it is; I’m not aware at this time of any other candidates for that title. Yes, it is modeled off of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA to some extent, but it also has some remarkable similarities to CYRANO DE BERGERAC in some of its plot elements. The movie gets off to a rocky, confusing start, and the plot as such doesn’t really begin until about twenty minutes into the movie, but it’s worth being patient, because it’s pretty good once it gets going. The mysterious figure is much more sympathetic than Eric in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA; he really doesn’t terrorize anyone, and he’s much more the victim than the villain. In fact, his primary goal in life is to help his former girlfriend recover from the madness she has fallen into when she believed he was dead. It’s well-directed and exciting, and the ending recalls that of the 1931 FRANKENSTEIN. I really liked this one.

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The Avenging Hand (1936)

The Avenging Hand (1936)
Article 5544 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-23-2018
Directed by Frank Richardson and Victor Hanbury
Featuring Noah Beery, Kathleen Kelly, Louis Borel
Country: UK
What it is: Comic crime movie

An American gangster in England turns detective when an innocent man is murdered at a swanky hotel.

I’m covering this movie because it appeared on my suggestions list; these are movies that have been suggested by others for me to cover. On my own judgment, I wouldn’t be covering this one; despite a title that may hint at the horrific and a certain very slight resemblance to an “old dark house” movie, there is no fantastic content to be found. The movie is fairly confusing at times and is sometimes clumsily edited, but it gets by as a result of Noah Beery’s performance as the gangster-turned-detective; he’s obviously relishing the role and his sense of fun is passed on to the viewer. The uncredited James Harcourt is also entertaining as the murder victim, a simple man given his first taste of luxury who gets endless pleasure just riding the elevator. Between the two of them, they enliven what would otherwise be a very dull crime thriller.

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Ghost Fever (1986)

Ghost Fever (1986)
Article 5543 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-21-2018
Directed by Lee Madden
Featuring Sherman Hemsley, Luis Avalos, Jennifer Rhodes
Country: USA
What it is: Horror comedy

Two policemen try to serve an eviction notice to two women living in an old southern mansion, but they discover that the mansion is haunted by a bigoted ghost.

Sherman Hemsley was almost bankrupted by the box-office failure of this, his attempt to break out as a movie star after the cancellation of ‘The Jeffersons’. Personally, I think he would have been hard-pressed to find a less promising script, a poorly conceived and painfully unfunny compendium of cliches that feels thrown together without much thought. A few potentially interesting ideas get lost in the weak direction and editing, and when the movie decides to climax the story by having someone save the mansion from destruction by trying to win the money at an exhibition boxing match, you can smell the desperation in the air. After an attempt to save the movie through extensive reshooting and editing, the director disavowed the movie and his name was replace with Alan Smithee. Some people put this one in the “so bad it’s good” category; me, I found it merely depressing.

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