Big Parade Review

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(More customer reviews)The Big Parade is a lengthy film but, for the most part, it is lively and fast-paced. At the beginning, I thought the film was the classic tale of a naive, spoiled rich kid (played by the great John Gilbert) drawn to the battle field by the parades and glamorization of the war. It is so much more than that. The main character, Jim Apperson, acually adjusts to soldier life very well. He quickly acquires two close buddies (played by Tom O'Brien and Karl Dane), demonstrates impressive innovation and ambition (creating a shower out of a barrel) and--of course--gets a French girlfriend, Melisande (played by Renee Adoree).
The first half of the film is a bit slow at times, although the antics of O'Brien and Dane provide comedy relief that is often hilarious (especially Dane's character). It is definitely worth the wait when Jim's unit goes off to battle. Melisande desperately clings to Jimmy not to leave (symbolism that foreshadows Jim's ultimate fate). Once on the battlefield, the fighting scenes are as well-done as any I've seen on the First World War. The troops slowly move through the devastated landscape, preparing for the next sniper attack. The three buddies end up in a trench together and spit in a target to decide who will go over the top and take out a German machine gunner (the WINNER goes over the top), Jim goes after a German he has wounded in order to finish him off and then finds he is unable to when he sees that his enemy is just a young kid. When Jim realizes the horror of war, only one thing really matters: the French girl he left behind. He must find her again! The film is one of the funniest, suspense-filled, and touching films I've seen (yes, it's all those things and more). Give it a try!

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Charlie Chaplin: Great Dictator (1940) Review

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(More customer reviews)One of the greatest satires ever filmed and Chaplin's most fully realized comedy. A beautiful blend of the usual Chaplin slapstick and pathos along with a very effective social and political commentary. Charlie is Adenoid Hynckle, dictator of an only slightly fictional country of Tomania. He also plays a Jewish ghetto barber. Both are played with such impeccable accuracy that to distinguish between them is extremely easy.Names are changed but this film is still the most effective film of Nazi Germany and Hitler's thankfully aborted attempt to take over the world. Chaplin's script never gets too preachy at least without an equal dose of satire. His approach is to make people laugh while teaching them at the same time. Nowhere is this more apparent than in his final monologue. After a predictable mistaken identity episode, Chaplin as the unnamed Jewish barber speaks of the horrors of Nazism. This climazes what may be the greatest performance in the history of comedy films. The greatest because it does more than simply make us laugh-it makes us think. The film earned Chaplin well deserved Oscar nominations for BestPicture, Screenplay and Actor. This is a film you must see.

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Unseen Cinema - Early American Avant Garde Film 1894-1941 (1910) Review

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(More customer reviews)The contents below are from unseen-cinema; they include the contents of a 160-page softcover Series Catalog, which is sold separately, but I think you would want. This is clearly a labor of love; though I can't imagine trying to watch all this in a month of Sundays, I could see dipping into it from time to time.
=====================================
Disk 1: THE MECHANIZED EYE
Experiments in Technique and Form
The dynamic qualities of motion pictures are explored by cameramen and filmmakers through novel experiments in technique and form. Early cinematographers James White, "Billy" Bitzer, and Frederick Armitage display experimental shooting styles that wowed audiences. Other independent companies further image manipulation through creative staging, editing, and printing, such as a stunning three-screen film that predates Gance's Napoleon. Experiments by photographer Walker Evans, painter Emlen Etting, musician Jerome Hill, and the film collectives Nykino and Artkino record the world in a continual process of flux. A most extreme approach is realized by Henwar Rodakiewicz with Portrait of a Young Man (1925-31), a monumental study of natural and abstract motions.
18 FILMS:
5 Paris Exposition Films (1900)-James White
Eiffel Tower from Trocadero Palace (1900)
Palace of Electricity (1900)
Champs de Mars (1900)
Panorama of Eiffel Tower (1900)
Scene from Elevator Ascending Eiffel Tower (1900)
Captain Nissen Going through Whirpool Rapids, Niagra Falls (1901)-creators unknown
Down the Hudson (1903)-Frederick Armitage & A.E. Weed
The Ghost Train (1903)-creators unknown
Westinghouse Works, Panorama View Street Car Motor Room (1904)-G.W. "Billy" Bitzer
In Youth, Beside the Lonely Sea (c. 1924-25)-creators unknown
Melody on Parade (c. 1936)-creators unknown
La Cartomancienne (The Fortune Teller) (1932)-Jerome Hill
Pie in the Sky (1934-35)-Nykino: Elia Kazan, Ralph Steiner & Irving Lerner
Travel Notes (1932)-Walker Evans
Oil: A Symphony in Motion (1930-33)-Artkino: M.G. MacPherson & Jean Michelson
Poem 8 (1932-33)-Emlen Etting
Storm (1941-43)-Paul Burnford
Portrait of a Young Man (1925-31)-Henwar RodakiewiczDisk 2: THE DEVIL'S PLAYTHING
American Surrealism
Edwin S. Porter and other early filmmakers used bizarre sets, fantastic costumes, and magic lantern tricks to illuminate their fantasy films. American parody supplied Douglas Fairbanks with enough unusual material to produce the truly surreal When the Clouds Roll By (1919). The expressionistic Cabinet of Dr. Calagari (1919) influenced American sensibilities throughout the 1920s as seen in Beggar of Horseback (1925), The Life and Death of 9413-A Hollywood Extra (1927) and The Telltale Heart (1928). The emphasis shifted when amateurs J.S. Watson, Jr., Joseph Cornell, and Orson Welles crafted a unique variety of American surrealism on film unfettered by European concerns.
17 FILMS:
Jack and the Beanstalk (1902)-Edwin S. Porter
Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906)-Edwin S. Porter
The Thieving Hand (1907)-creator unknown, Vitagraph
Impossible Convicts (1905)-G.W. "Billy" Bitzer
When the Clouds Roll By (1919)-Douglas Fairbanks & Victor Fleming (excerpt)
Beggar on Horseback (1925)-James Cruze (excerpt)
The Fall of the House of Usher (1926-27)-J.S. Watson, Jr. & Melville Webber
The Life and Death of 9413: A Hollywood Extra (1927)- Robert Florey & Slavko Vorkapich
The Love of Zero (1928)-Robert Florey & William Cameron Menzies
The Telltale Heart (1928)-Charles Klein
Tomatos Another Day (1930/1933)-J.S. Watson, Jr. & Alec Wilder
The Hearts of Age (1934)- William Vance & Orson Welles
Unreal News Reels (c. 1926)-Weiss Artclass Comedies (excerpt)
The Children's Jury (c. 1938)-attributed Joseph Cornell
Thimble Theater (c. 1938)-Joseph Cornell
Carousel: Animal Opera (c. 1938)-Joseph Cornell
Jack's Dream (c. 1938)-Joseph CornellDisk 3: LIGHT RHYTHMS
Music and Abstraction
The rhythmic elements of cinema are explored by artists and filmmakers fascinated by the abstract qualities of light. The American authors of avant-garde classics Le Retour á la raison (1923), Ballet mécanique (1923-24), Anémic cinéma (1926), and Une Nuit sur le Mont Chauve (1934), are finally acknowledged for their seminal artistic achievements made in Europe. Pioneer abstract films by Ralph Steiner, Mary Ellen Bute, Douglass Crockwell, Dwinnell Grant, and George Morris are compared and contrasted with Hollywood montages created by Ernst Lubitsch, Slavko Vorkapich, and Busby Berkeley. For the first time on video, composer George Antheil's original 1924 score accompanies Fernand Léger and Dudley Murphy's film Ballet mécanique, a truly avant-garde cacophony of image and sound.
29 FILMS:
Le Retour à la raison (1923)-Man Ray
Ballet mécanique (1923-24)-Fernand Léger & Dudley Murphy
Anémic cinéma (1924-26)-Rrose Sélavy (Marcel Duchamp)
Looney Lens: Anamorphic People (1927)-Al Brick
Out of the Melting Pot (1927)-W.J. Ganz Studio
H20 (1929)-Ralph Steiner
Surf and Seaweed (1929-30)-Ralph Steiner
7 Vorkapich Montage Sequences (1928-37)-Slavko Vorkapich
The Furies (1934)
Skyline Dance (1928)
Money Machine (1929)
Prohibition (1929)
The Firefly- Vorkapich edit (1937)
The Firefly-MGM release version (1937)
Maytime (1937)
So This Is Paris (1926)-Ernst Lubitsch (excerpt)
Light Rhythms (1930)-Francis Bruguière & Oswell Blakeston
Une Nuit sur le Mont Chauve (Night on Bald Mountain) (1934)-Alexandre Alexeieff & Claire Parker
Rhythm in Light (1934)-Mary Ellen Bute, Ted Nemeth & Melville Webber
Synchromy No. 2 (1936)-Mary Ellen Bute & Ted Nemeth
Parabola (1937)-Mary Ellen Bute & Ted Nemeth
Footlight Parade - "By a Waterfall" (1933)-Busby Berkeley
Glen Falls Sequence (1937-46)-Douglass Crockwell
Simple Destiny Abstractions (1937-40)-Douglass Crockwell
Abstract Movies (1937-47)-George L.K. Morris
Scherzo (1939)-Norman McLaren
Themis (1940)-Dwinell Grant
Contrathemis (1941)-Dwinell Grant
1941 (1941)-Francis Lee
Moods of the Sea (1940-42)-Slavko Vorkapich & John HoffmanDisk 4: INVERTED NARRATIVES
New Directions in Story-Telling
Early directors D.W. Griffith and Lois Weber develop the radical language of cinema narrative through audience-friendly melodramas made for nickelodeon theaters. Experimental fantasies are depicted in such independent productions as Moonland (c. 1926), Lullaby (1929), and The Bridge (1929-30). Depression era films by socially-conscious filmmakers reshape drama as demonstrated in Josef Berne's brooding Black Dawn (1933) and Strand and Hurwitz's biting Native Land (1937-41): each pictures a raw reality. Parody and satire find their mark in Theodore Huff's Little Geezer (1932) and Barlow, Hay and Le Roy's Even as You and I (1937). David Bradley's Sredni Vashtar by Saki (1940-43) boasts an inadvertent post-modern attitude.
12 FILMS:
The House with Closed Shutters (1910)-D.W. Griffith & G.W. "Billy" Bitzer
Suspense (1913)-Lois Weber & Philips Smalley
Moonland (c. 1926)-Neil McQuire & William A. O'Connor
Lullaby (1929)-Boris Deutsch
The Bridge (1929-30)-Charles Vidor
Little Geezer (1932)-Theodore Huff
Black Dawn (1933)-Josef Berne & Seymour Stern
Native Land (1937-41)-Frontier Films: Leo Hurwitz & Paul Strand (excerpt)
Black Legion (1936-7)-Nykino: Ralph Steiner & Willard Van Dyke
Even As You and I (1937)-Roger Barlow, Harry Hay & Le Roy Robbins
Object Lesson (1941)-Christoher Young
"Sredni Vashtar" by Saki (1940-43)-David BradleyDisk 5: PICTURING A METROPOLIS
New York City Unveiled
Only Unseen Cinema DVD released as a SINGLE
The DVD depicts dynamic images of New York City and scenes of New Yorkers among the skyscrapers, streets, and night life of America's greatest city during a half century of progress, while at the same time showing changes in film style and the history of cinema experiments. Avant-garde moments pop up in the most unlikely of places including turn-of-the-twentieth-century actualities, commercial and radical newsreels, and Busby Berkeley's "Lullaby of Broadway" from Gold Diggers of 1935. Included are spectacular prints of Charles Sheeler and Paul Strand's Manhatta (1921), Robert Flaherty's Twenty-four-Dollar Island (c. 1926), Robert Florey's Skyscraper Symphony (1929), Jay Leyda's A Bronx Morning (1931), and Rudy Burckhardt's Pursuit of Happiness (1940).
26 FILMS:
The Blizzard (1899)-creators unknown
Lower Broadway (1902)-Robert K. Bonine
Beginning of a Skyscraper (1902)-Robert K. Bonine
Panorama from Times Building, New York (1905)-Wallace McCutcheon
Skyscrapers of NYC from North River (1903)-J.B. Smith
Panorama from Tower of the Brooklyn Bridge (1903)-G.W. "Billy" Bitzer
Building Up and Demolishing the Star Theatre (1902)-Frederick Armitage
Coney Island at Night (1905)-Edwin S. Porter
Interior New York Subway 14th Street to 42nd Street (1905)-G.W. "Billy" Bitzer
Seeing New York by Yacht (1902)-Frederick Armitage & A.E. Weed
2 Looney Lens: Split Skyscrapers (1924) and Tenth Avenue, NYC (1924)-Al Brick
4 Scenes from Ford Educational Weekly (1916-24)-creators unknown
Manhatta (1921)-Charles Sheeler & Paul Strand
Twentyfour-Dollar Island (c. 1926)-Robert...Read more›

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7 DVDs – 20 Hours - 155 Classics of Avant Garde Cinema! "Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant-Garde Film 1894-1941" reveals hitherto unknown accomplishments of American filmmakers working in the United States and abroad from the invention of cinema until World War II, and offers an innovative and often controversial view of experimental film as a product of avant-garde artists, of professional directors, and of amateur movie-makers working collectively and as individuals at all levels of film production. Many of the films have not been available since their creation, some have never been screened in public, and almost all have been unavailable in copies as good as these until now. Sixty of the world's leading film archive collections cooperated with Anthology Film Archives to bring this long-neglected period of film history back to life for modern audiences.

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The Birth of a Nation (1915) Review

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(More customer reviews)While it seems that many reviews posted on the DVD site aren't actually for this DVD, this review is specifically a review of Kino's Griffith Masterworks edition. The DVD contains the most complete version of The Birth of a Nation known and available. The film is 187 min. long on this disk. It is a beautiful print, well restored and re-tinted. A beautiful print. The musical score is clever and very entertaining too. I think of any bad thing to say about the disk. I think most know of the story line and its hints of racism. It's there and it can't be argued away. D.W. Griffith was a son of a Civil War soldier and grew up in the South. He used the book The Clansman by Thomas Dixon Jr. as it jibed with his own viewpoints and many of the day. The hero worship of the Klan actually encouraged its resurgence in late 1910s and 1920s into the 30s. The racism brought Griffith so much grief, he spent his life trying to justify his views and created Intolerance to offset the criticism. What brings The Birth of a Nation is its reliance on story and use of the film camera never tried before in the USA before. It is a cinema powerhouse and actually a pretty moving film. Never before had Americans seen the cinema come to life before. Some French, Italian and German filmmakers created feature films that are quite good and successful, but World War I basically destroyed their film industries and the US reigned supreme. DW Griffith took American film to the next level permanently. No longer were films relegated to the poorer urban areas and Nickelodeons. It was now a popular art form and respectable to attend the cinema. The DVD also includes a making of, and introduction by DW himself made in 1930, and several early versions of his Civil War films. It seems to me that because of the closeness to the time period, the films might indicate a closer idea of how former Confederates actually thought and how they remember the war.

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Based on a play called "The Clansmen," D.W. Griffith's three-hour Civil War epic traces the development of the Civil War itself, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan through the lives of two families.

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Gary Cooper MGM Movie Legends Collection (The Cowboy and the Lady / The Real Glory / Vera Cruz / The Winning of Barbara Worth) (1926) Review

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(More customer reviews)It's a shame that Gary Cooper, today, is largely remembered for only "High Noon", his Hawks and Capra films ("Sergeant York" and "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town"), and as Lou Gehrig in "The Pride of the Yankees"; in his day, he was as sexy and popular as Clark Gable, and more esteemed as a cowboy star than John Wayne!
"Gary Cooper MGM Movie Legends Collection" offers a selection of titles that will, hopefully, spark renewed interest in this most charismatic American 'Original'. While, sadly, the collection offers little in bonus features, and, with the exception of "Barbara Worth", appears to be unremastered (which is why I only give it 4 stars), each film is very entertaining!
"The Winning of Barbara Worth" (1926), was, of course, Coop's breakthrough role, after three years of stunt work and bit parts, and is a bona fide classic. As 'Abe Lee', the young cowboy/surveyor suitor of Vilma Banky, his sexy, natural style would steal the film from star Ronald Colman (in Colman's defense, his role was more restrained, and less interesting). The film, based on a best-selling novel about harnessing the Colorado River to irrigate the desert, garnered great reviews and box office, and gave Coop a spectacular 'start'... (5 stars out of 5)
"The Cowboy and the Lady" (1938), a 'modern-day' Western comedy/romance, presented Coop the way 1930s' audiences loved him best, as a slow-talking, incorruptible cowboy irresistible to women, but a 'gentleman', in the best sense of the word! Falling for the daughter of a Presidential hopeful, posing as a maid (Merle Oberon), he marries her, discovers the charade, then storms into a posh political dinner and speaks so much 'common sense' that her family moves to his ranch! With life-long friend Walter Brennan as his sidekick, this is a real charmer! (5 stars out of 5)
"The Real Glory" (1939), released shortly after his classic version of "Beau Geste", another 'action-oriented' adventure, though lacking the "Geste" polish and style. Coop is a military doctor in the 1906 Philippines, who, with friends David Niven and Broderick Crawford, attempts to help the Filipinos fight off an army of insurgents. Action was never producer Sam Goldwyn's forte, and the film lacks the warmth of a "Gunga Din", although it does offer a rousing climax... (2 1/2 stars out of 5)
"Vera Cruz" (1954), produced by Burt Lancaster and Harold Hecht, is a spectacular, large-scale western, filmed in Mexico. Ex-Confederate Cooper and bandit Lancaster are uneasy partners guarding Denise Darcel and millions in gold, during the Mexican Revolution. While the aging Coop wasn't well during production, he still gives a solid performance, although overshadowed by Burt's flashy portrayal; the film offers a
fabulous supporting cast, including Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Cesar Romero, and Jack Elam. "Vera Cruz" was a major influence on Sergio Leone, and has achieved legendary status, among fans of the genre! (5 stars out of 5)
There is a LOT to enjoy, in this Gary Cooper collection!

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GARY COOPER GIFTSET - DVD Movie

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Birth of a Nation Silent Film Plus Bo Review

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(More customer reviews)D. W. Griffith's film "Birth of a Nation" ranks as a significant piece of myth-making activity on behalf of "The Cause" of the Southern Cofederacy, of (caucasian) national unity as the Great War was underway in Europe, and of perpetuating hideous stereotypes of African Americans. Every North American will profit from watching the film and thus coming to understand how their forebears had been propagandized concerning "the race question" in the not-so-distant past.
The edition under review here does pose some problems. The attending musical background to the film is often annoying, in that it does not correspond to the actions on the screen. Further, gaps in the film exist that, while they do not rob the film of continuity, distract the viewer and leave him/her wondering what was missed. Perhaps that is why this edition is inexpensive.

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Item Name: Birth of a Nation Silent Film Plus Bo; Studio:Alpha Video

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Ivan the Terrible - Pt. 2 (1959) Review

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(More customer reviews)Right off the bat, it needs to be said that this is the older DVD version, not the new remastered Criterion Collection version. There are no extras in this DVD version by Image. The subtitles are black and white, and are difficult to read against the black-and-white film sequences. The excellent score by Prokofiev is tinny. The soundtrack was recorded in PCM, essentially a WAV file, which will not play on many older DVD players. The transition between the black and white sequences and the color sequences is not as smooth as it could be. The difference between the Image version and the Criterion version is one of quality and content, and price. The Criterion version comes as part of a boxed set, which is pricey if you already own Alexander Nevsky and/or Ivan Part I. If you don't already own Alexander Nevsky and/or Ivan I, the Criterion version is the way to go. If you do own it, then you have to decide whether to purchase the Image version and spend less money, or to replicate part of your film library with the 3 disk set from Criterion.
As to the virtues of this Eisenstein compared to other Eisenstein films or all other films, the pacing will be too slow and the posed acting will be too melodramatic for most American audiences raised on modern action flicks. Film lovers will get more out of it, however, because most of them will have the background to appreciate the preservation of the silent film acting style with all its posing, stance, pregnant pauses and charactured good guy/bad guy visual "leitmotifs." The historical background of the film will be missed by your average modern western audience, who would probably fail to sort the propagandizing of Soviet filmmaking from the dramatic touches and historical details. Overall, this is worthy film to watch because of its historical value, insight into the Soviet "social realism" school, hand-in-glove Prokofiev score and brilliant cinematography. The set-up for the final murder and the murder scene itself are great cinema, achieving the pacing and suspense that seem lacking in the first half of the film. Even though you know what is going to happen, the resolution is still satisfying and surprising. If anything, see this film for that. My three stars are really to rate this DVD version because of its tinny and grainy quality and hard-to-read subtitles. Better to spend you money to get the Criterion boxed set instead, even if you do end up replicating one or more Eisenstein's which you may already own.

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IVAN THE TERRIBLE PART 2 - DVD Movie

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Civil War Films of the Silent Era (1915) Review

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(More customer reviews)The three films included on this DVD provide the modern viewer with an astonishing link to the Civil War period. This is not least because actual Civil War veterans would have seen them. It is easy to imagine these old men going into the theatres of the time and being reminded of what happened to them fifty years previously. These films would have recalled to them their youths `touched by fire', in a similar fashion to the way a film like Saving Private Ryan brought back memories for WWII veterans. Somehow when watching these silent re-enactments of the Civil War, that period seems less remote.
This DVD collection includes two short films and one feature. The two shorts, The Drummer of the 8th and Granddad were directed by Thomas Ince, while the feature length The Coward was written and produced by Ince and directed by Reginald Barker. The two short films, each lasting just under half an hour, are wonderful. This is partly because they look absolutely stunning. I have never seen prints from 1913 look this good. There is almost no print damage and the colour-tinted images are clear, sharp and vivid. But it is not just the prints which make these two films so enjoyable. The Drummer of the 8th is a moving story full of action which says something about the futility of heroism. Granddad, on the other hand, is a film about how difficult it is for veterans to fit into a later world and shows how the Civil War had moments of self-sacrifice and altruism as well as carnage.
The story of The Coward is also impressive and Charles Ray, as a man doubting his courage, gives a subtle performance, showing the fear that so many young men must have faced. Frank Keenan plays the domineering, stern father who forces Ray to fight. Keenan ably portrays the pride and sense of honour that his character feels and his outrage that his son appears to be a coward. The Coward unfortunately has not survived in as pristine a condition as the two short films. Throughout the film scratches and lines mark the image and there are apparently some frames missing as the action occasionally jumps forward rather abruptly. Also there are some brief scenes where a print from an inferior source has been used to fill in gaps in the main print. Nevertheless this tinted print on the whole looks fairly good. It may have damage but the images are always clear and it is possible to see the detail on the expressions of the actors. The film remains enjoyable and perfectly watchable. All three films on this DVD are accompanied by music scores mainly consisting of Civil War era music. One interesting exception is when Verdi's `Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves' is played to accompany a slave serving at the dinner table. This works well as a comment on the action. The films on this DVD are essential for silent film fans and for anyone interested in the Civil War period.

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