And the Villain Still Pursued Her; or, The Author’s Dream (1906)

AND THE VILLAIN STILL PURSUED HER; OR, THE AUTHOR’S DREAM (1906)
Article 5194 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-27-2016l
Directed by J. Stuart Blackton
Featuring Paul Panzer
Country: USA
What it is: Bizarre comedy

A rather down-on-his-luck author falls asleep and dreams he is the unlikely hero in a mellerdrammer.

This is a title that had been consigned to me “ones that got away”, list, but it turns out that it was one of a series of unidentified shorts at the Library of Congress, and I was able to acquire a copy of it. I’m glad I did; though there are plenty of special effects to the short, they are there to serve the weird comic vibe of the short rather than for their own purposes. There’s a duel sequence that wouldn’t be out of place in a Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin short, a makeshift operation to remove a bullet lodged in someone’s head, an “escape by dumbwaiter” sequence involving an absurdly stretched leg… this one left my mouth hanging open a couple of times. It’s also one of those special effects shorts that doesn’t feel like an attempt to imitate Melies. Now that this short has been identified, it should become generally available in the next couple of years, and I’m glad; it’s one that is worth catching.

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Princess Iron Fan (1941)

PRINCESS IRON FAN (1941)
aka Tie shan gong zhu
Article 5193 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-26-2016
Directed by Wan Guchan and Wan Laiming
Featuring the voices of Wan Chaochen, Wan Guchan, Wan Laiming
Country: China
What it is: Animated fantasy allegory

A monk and his three apprentices are on a quest, but their way is blocked by a mountain of fire. A nearby princess has an iron fan with which to quench the flames, and the monk sends his three apprentices (a monkey, a pig and a stuttering man) to get the fan. This may prove a difficult task.

There’s a lot of novelty value to this one; it was the first full-length animated feature from China, and it was made while the country was under occupation by the Japanese. Much of the animation was rotoscoped, which is very apparent in certain scenes. The characters are apparently well-known Chinese archetypes, with the monkey character having been especially popular; I suspect Asians and those steeped in Asian cultures will probably be the ones most likely to appreciate this one. I do find it interesting that the opening titles seem to want to distant this obvious fantasy from the fantasy genre by insisting it’s an allegory rather than a fantasy; I don’t think the former necessarily cancels out the latter. It does take a little while to adjust to the different animation style, and the humorous sections don’t seem to translate very well. At any rate, it makes for a novel viewing experience.

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The Cook in Trouble (1904)

THE COOK IN TROUBLE (1904)
aka Sorcellerie culinaire
Article 5192 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-25-2016
Directed by Georges Melies
Featuring Georges Melies
Country: France
What it is: Comic curse

When a cook refuses to spare a crumb for an old beggar, the latter reveals himself to be a magician and places a nightmarish curse on the cook…

I don’t know about you, but there’s two things I always associate with the work of Melies – dancing girls and tumbling imps. Those partial to the former would be better off with one of his other shorts. Those who prefer the latter have hit the jackpot here; once the curse gets underway, there’s no end to the tumbling imp action here. They even have the ability to change color; if you get tired of the standard black tumbling imp, they’ll change to the new-style white tumbling imps. Still, under either color they’ll wreck your kitchen, ruin your cooking, and probably stuff you in the pot, but that’s what tumbling imps do. All in all, it’s another moderately entertaining Melies short.

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Introducing the subject of Marginalia

Having started writing reviews for my project made me aware of certain things that didn’t really matter to me when it was a private project. One such issue was that I sometimes found myself in a possession to comment on whether movie I watched actually qualified for my project. I was supposed to be covering fantasy, science fiction and horror. Yet I often found myself watching movies that didn’t quite fit neatly into any of these genres. Here is a short list of several movies I’ve covered over the years. Each of them had appeared in one of my sources. But could any of these be said to really belong to one of these genres?

Houdini (1953)

Sunset Blvd. (1950)

Deliverance (1972)

Charly (1968)

Fiddler on the Roof (1971)

From Russia With Love (1963)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)

Richard III (1955)

Camera Makes Whoopee (1935)

You’re Telling Me (1934)

In each case I found myself asking whether these movies could really be described as genre or not. Yet there must have been a reason each one of these was included in their respective sources. Still, at any rate, I would eventually consign many of these movies to an area called Marginalia: Movies that don’t strictly belong to the genre but which contain elements that make the movie nudge up against one of the genres in question. In my next post on the subject, I’ll give a quick rundown on how these movies served as marginalia (or not, as the case may be).

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The Congress of Nations (1900)

THE CONGRESS OF NATIONS (1900)
Article 5191 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-24-2016
Directed by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith
Featuring Albert E. Smith
Country: USA
Company: Patriotic magic act

A magician pulls out flags from a hoop and then causes representatives of their nations to appear behind them.

It’s a basic variation on the Melies-style magic shorts, only with a patriotic theme; the final flag to appear is the Stars and Stripes, with a tableau of the representatives of other nations appearing with Uncle Sam. The fact that it has a specific theme is the most striking thing about this one; the fact that it’s not done particularly well and engages in some stereotyping (when the Chinese flag shows up) are its biggest problems. The short is mildly interesting but far from great.

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Cinderella (1914)

CINDERELLA (1914)
Article 5190 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-23-2016
Directed by James Kirkwood
Featuring Mary Pickford, Owen Moore, Isabel Vernon
Country: USA
What it is: Fairy tale

If you knew the story yesterday, you still know it.

At fifty minutes of length, this version of the classic fairy tale really has enough time to do what yesterday’s version couldn’t – flesh out the story. It also does a fine job. One big plus is Mary Pickford in the title role; she adds a number of touches which make the story seem more real and brings her character to life; for example, when she brings out the mice for the coach, it’s obvious she’s not too enthused about carrying a cage of rodents, and that’s just the type of detail that adds to the fun. Furthermore, the script fleshes out the story in ways that enhance the main plot line; the scene where Cinderella meets Prince Charming early on and a relationship is established at that point actually makes the rest of the story seem more immediate and important. It’s one of those versions that makes me see the story with fresh eyes, and makes me realize how much a familiar old plot can be revitalized by making the characters seem alive. This is a very solid take on the story.

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Cinderella, or The Glass Slipper (1907)

CINDERELLA, OR THE GLASS SLIPPER (1907)
aka Cendrillon
Article 5189 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-22-2016
Directed by Albert Capellani
Featuring Louise Lagrange
Country: France
What it is: Fairy tale

You know the story.

Sometimes, I despair at having to review adaptations of overly familiar stories, often because there are usually few surprises in the story. It’s even tougher with short silent versions of them which generally can’t find the time to flesh them out. However, this one from Pathe does have a few entertaining odd touches to it. For one thing, Cinderella, on top of her other problems, is also tormented by a bearded imp from hell; if he tumbled, I’d say he was a Melies refugee. The ball takes place out of doors, which is an unusual setting for that scene. I also like the way the movie creatively stages a dream sequence for Cinderella by having the back of the stage explode into pieces to reveal her dream. This may not seem like much, but it’s little touches like this which can keep that dreariness of seeing another version of an overly familiar story at bay.

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The Magic Flute (1946)

THE MAGIC FLUTE (1946)
aka La flute magique
Article 5188 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-21-2016
Directed by Paul Grimault
No cast
Country: France
What it is: Whimsical animated fantasy

A wandering minstrel crosses swords with a music-hating king and his lute is destroyed. However, some birds transform into a magic flute that the minstrel can use to make anyone or anything dance.

This is a charming little French animated short. The print I saw was not translated into English, but that’s really no big problem; outside of the lyrics of the minstrel’s opening song and a sign on the castle door (which I’m guessing mostly informs minstrels that they are not welcome), the story is told visually. According to IMDB, Paul Grimault was one of the leading animators in France, and had a captive audience in that country during the period of its occupation during WWII, as American animated films weren’t allowed to be shown. The cartoon itself is pleasant and well-animated, but it’s more whimsical than actively funny and is fairly predictable. As far as I can tell, it has no connection with the Mozart opera.

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The Insects’ Christmas (1913)

THE INSECTS’ CHRISTMAS (1913)
aka Rozhdestvo obitateley lesa, Christmas for the Forest Inhabitants
Article 5187 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-20-2016
Directed by Wladyslaw Starewicz
No cast
Country: Russia
What it is: Stop-motion holiday whimsy

A tree ornament Santa Claus climbs down, goes outside, and brings Christmas to the insects in the middle of winter.

There’s no real plot to this holiday whimsy; it’s really just a group of setpieces on the theme. That doesn’t mean it’s not enjoyable; Starewicz’s beautifully realized stop-motion animation (of the tree ornament Santa, a doll, several insects and a frog) plus his attention to fun little details (such as the fact that some of the insects don’t just walk off screen – they join into a wheel and roll off screen) are as enthralling as ever. As great as the animation is, I think it’s really Starewicz’s wonderful imagination that really brings these things to life. I hope someday that this man and his work become as famous as he deserves to be.

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I fantastici 3 $upermen (1967)

I FANTASTICI 3 $UPERMEN (1967)
aka The Three Fantastic Supermen
Article 5186 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-19-2016
Directed by Gianfranco Parolini
Featuring Tony Kendall, Brad Harris, Aldo Canti
Country: Yugoslavia / Italy / West Germany / France
What it is: Superhero shenanigans

An FBI agent teams with two old friends who have become supercrooks to form a crimefighting team known as the Three Fantastic Supermen. They take on counterfeiting plot that is also able to create counterfeit people.

My copy of this movie is in Italian without subtitles… and you know, I didn’t really care. It became obvious to me early on that the appeal of the movie wasn’t going to be the plot subtleties (and the general gist of the plot is pretty easy to follow), but in catching the looney energy of the athletic action sequences. As a whole, it comes across as something of a cross between the “Batman” TV series of the sixties and a James Bond movie with an emphasis on comedy. The stuntwork was actually pretty impressive, and it did keep me grinning throughout. The three supermen are bulletproof in their costumes, and their weapon of choice seems to be a metal ball on a string. I really enjoyed this one, though from some of the reviews on IMDB, I gather there is an English dubbed version out there, and I suspect it detracts from the fun.

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