42. Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928)

Running Time: 69 minutes

Directed By: Buster Keaton, Charles Reisner
Written By: Carl Harbaugh

Main Cast: Buster Keaton, Tom McGuire, Ernest Torrence, Tom Lewis, Marion Byron

MY FOND AND FINAL FAREWELL TO THE KING OF COMEDY...BUSTER KEATON

It is with great sadness that I watch my final Buster Keaton film in the book, Steamboat Bill Jr. While this film may have been my favorite so far, I'll definitely miss Buster Keaton's work for a while and while I do enjoy taking this journey through cinema so much, one of the things I'll look forward to, when its over is going back and watching the Keaton that I have yet to see.

One day, while wrapping up a hard days work on his river boat, Stonewall Jackson, Steamboat Bill Sr. receives a telegram telling him that his son, Steamboat Bill Jr., is coming to town and wishes to see his father. Bill Sr. hasn't seen his son in quite sometime and is ready to welcome his son with open arms into the heart of Mississippi.

When junior arrives in town, Bill Sr. is quite surprised to learn that his son is lacking many of the manly qualities that he himself possesses. Wearing a beret and sporting a pencil thin moustache, Bill Jr. is happy to see his Dad and tags along when Bill Sr. takes him to get a shave and some new attire. In one scene, the Bills go hat shopping, as Sr. looks to replace Jr. beret with something more southern and one of the funniest scenes of the movie.

Steamboat Bill Sr.'s rival is Mr. King, who also owns a river boat, along with half of the town and looks to put Bill Sr. out of commission. When Steamboat Bill Jr. falls head over heels in love with Mr. King's daughter, Bill Sr. forbids it, claiming that he'll find Junior his wife and "she won't be the daughter of a man like King".

Steamboat Bill Sr.'s river boat is declared condemned and when he tries to fight it he ends up in the town slammer. Steamboat Bill Jr., already shunned by his father for sneaking off in the night to visit King's daughter, tries to reconcile with his Dad and head's to the jail with a loaf of bread loaded with some breakout tools, in probably my favorite scene of the film. They eventually get loose from the clutches of the Sheriff, but not before a cyclone strolls into town, providing one of the most suspenseful and spectacular Keaton scenes of all his movies I've seen.

After five Keaton films (Our Hospitality, Sherlock Jr., Seven Chances, The General and Steamboat Bill Jr.) this may be my personal favorite of the five. I also enjoyed the hell out of Seven Chances, but really I enjoyed the hell out of them all and had a fantastic time getting to know Keaton, his comedy, his willingness to do anything to entertain, his knack for suspense and his zest to perform in front of the camera. Buster Keaton has not only made it easier for me to take the journey that I'm currently on, but has also provided me with some personal favorite movies that I'll cherish even after my mission ends. I will certainly miss these Keaton films, as its always been something to look forward to and I always knew I was gonna love it, if Buster was in it. I'm sure I'll come across some more favorites as I trot along on my journey. Favorite actors, directors, etc., but I'll never forget my old pal Buster and the loads of laughs and entertainment he provided me, as I made my way through the history of cinema. Thanks Buster.

RATING: 10/10 A nice send off for Keaton, Steamboat Bill Jr. knocked one outta the park...I loved it!

NEXT UP: Storm Over Asia...Should be watched and reviewed later today...But first...some sleep for your courageous journeyman.

October 22, 2009 4:45am

41. La Passion de Jeanne D'Arc/The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

Running Time: 82 minutes

Directed By: Carl Theodor Dreyer

Written By: Carl Theodor Dreyer, Joseph Delteil

Main Cast: Maria Falconetti, Eugene Silvain, Andre Berley, Maurice Schutz

THE TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF SAINT JOAN OF ARC

My introduction to Carl Theodor Dreyer came tonight as I watched The Passion of Joan of Arc and thought it was just about an average film.

The Passion of Joan of Arc tells the story of the trial of our film's heroine, as she was put on trial for claiming to have heard revelations from God and seen visions of Saint Michael. The film depicts the judges that persecute Joan, as the evil doers, as they poke and prod at Joan with question upon question and claim that the visions she sees are not of hevenly descent, but rather that of Satan.

We're shown the full trial, her imprisonment, torture and execution. At one point, when Joan is threatened with being burnt at the stake, she folds under pressure and signs a confession, being sentenced to life imprisonment. Later she recants her confession and is, of course, executed.

The performance from Falconetti was quite superb, as Dreyer executed the use of close-up shots to an art form. The expressions that are plastered on Joan's face throughout the picture are quite unforgettable, as tears stream over her face and she reacts to the judges threats and demeaning questions. Despite the terrific performance, I felt the film was lacking something for me. For one, I watched the Criterion version of the film, which allows you to view the film with or without musical accompaniment. If you choose to have music played over the film, its a score laid out in 1994 by a composer Richard Einhorn entitled "Voices of Light". I felt that this could only take away from the experience and opted to watch the film free of music. Maybe I should've made the other choice, as watching total silence really left this film a little emotionless, again, despite the great acting. Other than the music thing, there was just something not clicking between me and this film, and while I did find the subject matter interesting, I found the movie strolling right in the average neighborhood.

RATING: 5/10 We'll call it right down the middle and leave it at that. Maybe someday I'll rewatch the film with the music and see if that helps at all.

NEXT UP: Steamboat Bill Jr...My farewell to Buster Keaton

October 22, 2009 1:01am

40. Un Chien Andalou/An Andalusian Dog (1928)

Running Time: 16 minutes
Directed By: Luis Bunuel
Written By: Luis Bunuel, Salvador Dali
Main Cast: Pierre Batcheff, Simone Mareuil, Luis Bunuel, Salvador Dali

WEIRD, WILD STUFF

"To describe the movie (An Andalusian Dog) is simply to list its shots, since there is no story line to link them"
-Roger Ebert

At a running time of only sixteen minutes, Un Chien Andalou or An Andalusian Dog, is probably one of the most bizarre movies I've ever witnessed.

Linked together by a series of weird and surreal shots, An Andalusian Dog, was apparently made based on dreams that both Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali had, and made to intentionally make zero sense. Now, I've always been a fan of weird movies and films that really make you think and wanna research them to find out the answers that lie behind their seemingly impossible to follow plot, but An Andalusian Dog is intentionally confusing and apparently has no real plot.

The shots are totally bizarre though: a man slicing a woman's eye open with a razor blade, a transvestite riding a bicycle down the street and apparently falling over dead, ants crawling out through a hole in a man's hand, a man pulling a piano which is tied to two ropes and upon the piano lay rotting carcasses of dead horses, a woman's armpit and two people walking down a beach and shown later with sand covering them up to their chests, as they lay motionless. Sound weird enough for 'ya?

I guess I was a bit intrigued by this film, but can't say that I really enjoyed it all that much. I went ahead and watched it twice, since it was so short and since I was so perplexed by it. I had only seen one Bunuel film prior to this and that was "The Exterminating Angel" and that was another one that left me with a feeling of "HUH". One thing's for sure and that's is if you're a fan of David Lynch, then you'd probably love Bunuel and Bunuel seems even crazier and more of an oddball.

RATING: 4/10 That's just about as high as I can go, and I'm being generous. Can't say I really enjoyed it, but it was quite perplexing and I do commend the director for, at least, that much.

NEXT UP: The Passion of Joan of Arc...My introduction to Carl Theodor Dreyer

October 21, 2009 1:57pm

38. The Crowd (1928)

Running Time: 104 minutes

Directed By: King Vidor

Written By: King Vidor, John V.A. Weaver

Main Cast: James Murray, Eleanor Boardman, Bert Roach, Estelle Clark, Daniel G. Tomlinson

"YOU'VE GOT TO BE GOOD IN THAT TOWN IF YOU WANT TO BEAT THE CROWD"

The above words are the first uttered by our protagonist as he enters New York City, ready to captivate The Big Apple and take it by storm. King Vidor directs and I finally caught this one on TCM exactly four months to the day after I should've watched it originally.

Johnny Sims is our main man in "The Crowd". The film starts with his birth and his father immediately has high hopes for him, hoping that he may even be the President of the U.S. someday, since Johnny was born on July 4, 1900. We flash forward to 1912 and Johnny is twelve years old as he sits out on the front stoop with his pals and they chat about what they want to be when they grow up. An ambulance buzzes by them and stops in front of Johnny's home, paramedics rushing inside. Johnny's father has suddenly passed away and we see the horrified look on John's face as the camera pans down the stairwell and onto our protagonist. We flash forward, yet again, and Johnny is all grown up and arriving in New York City, ready to get a job and make it big, like his father predicted. He doesn't have any trouble landing a job in a large office building, as an accountant and one day, when work ends, one of his co-workers asks him if he'll double with two gal pals of his. He accepts and that is when he meets his future wife, Mary.

John and Mary get married and get their own apartment, a tiny one, but a new home nonetheless for the happy new couple. Mary's mother and brothers don't think too highly of John, but Mary loves and understands him and that's all that matters. Despite a big quarrel early on in their marriage, Mary and John bury the hatch, when Mary announces that she's pregnant. Nine months later their baby boy is born and everything is as happy as it once was. Five years after that, John has received an eight dollar raise and a baby girl has been welcomed into the family. Everything looks just fine for the Sims family, that is, until tragedy strikes. One day, after John gets a $500 check for submitting an ad slogan for Magic Cleaner, he brings home presents for the entire family. He sticks his head out the apartment window to find his children across the street, with the other kids. Waving a new scooter in front of their eyes they come barreling across the road. The boy makes it just fine, but the girl is struck by an automobile and she eventually dies. From their things go from bad to worse for the Sims family, which makes "The Crowd" a truly emotional and later, inspiring tragedy.

I remember having a good feeling about this movie back in October, when I originally was forced to skip over it. This was a really great film, plain and simple, as it really hit you where you wanted to be hit and made you feel all of the emotions that the characters in the film were going through. I've always had a place in my heart for tragic films, where the characters must face many different hardships and downfalls, before finally learning the grand lesson in the end of everything, and this is just that kind of movie. Everything meshes together well and King Vidor's dream of making an average movie about an average man is pulled off excellently. This film depicts everyday life and not just everyday life in 1928, but everything that is presented here, still holds true today, as people still face the same types of troubles that these characters were facing back in the silent era. This film holds up really well and is still highly enjoyable, even as we enter the first few months of 2010.

RATING: 8.5/10 Great film and I'm really glad I finally got the chance to watch it. It makes me wonder about all those other films I've been forced to skip and how good they have the potential of being.

NEXT UP: The Docks of New York...Can't find this one either.

October 18, 2009 9:02pm

Revised: February 19, 2010 3:06am

37. The Kid Brother (1927)

Running Time: 84 minutes

Directed By: J.A. Howe, Ted Wilde

Written By: Thomas J. Crizer, Howard J. Green, John Grey, Lex Neal, Ted Wilde

Main Cast: Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, Walter James, Leo Willis, Olin Francis

AND A THIRD COMIC GENIUS BREAKS ONTO THE SCENE

If you're having trouble finding The Kid Brother, it can be found on the Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection: Volume Two: Disc One. I had a bit of trouble myself at first, but ended up finding it on Netflix. Harold Lloyd was another comic genius and its evident from his depiction of Harold Hickory in The Kid Brother.

Harold Hickory is the youngest son of James Hickory, the sheriff of Hickoryville. Sheriff Hickory has two other sons, Olin and Leo, and the all three look down on young Harold for not being the man that they are. Harold is left to do the chores around the house, while his father and brothers are left to tend to the estate.

One day as Harold is parading around in his father's sheriff uniform, the traveling Medicine Man Show pulls up to the Hickory residence and thinking that Harold is the good sheriff, requests his signature on a permit to run his show in Hickoryville. Harold reluctantly signs the document and the Medicine Man Show is set to do business in Hickoryville. When James Hickory finds out of this, he immediately calls for the show to be shut down and sends Harold out to do it himself. While trying to request that the show be shut down, Harold inadvertently burns the Medicine Man cart to the ground. In the meantime, Harold has fallen for the woman who travels with the Medicine Show, providing one of the funniest gags in the movie, where the woman is walking down a hill, and Harold continues to climb a tree so that he can keep adding tidbits to his farewell.

Aside from all the hubbub surrounding the Medicine Man Show, the citizens of Hickoryville have been raising money for a new dam and have finally met the amount needed. They lock the money up in a small safe and place it in the care of Sheriff Hickory for safekeeping. When the Medicine Man owner sees this in the paper, he sees an opportunity to regain some of the money that he lost, due to the fire at his Medicine Man Show cart.

While watching The Kid Brother, I just couldn't stop myself from thinking that I'd rather be watching a Buster Keaton movie, or that I'd even rather see Buster performing these gags instead of Harold. Harold Lloyd was excellent though, and as the movie went on I continued to realize his genius. The chase been Harold and the Medicine Man strongman, on the boat at the end of the film is absolutely awesome and I loved every single minute of it. I also loved the scene where Harold does the dishes, in his own, resourceful manner. While I do think that Buster Keaton is my personal favorite and in my opinion, the King of Silent Era Comedy, Lloyd hangs in there and doesn't fail to deliver the laughs.

RATING: 6.5/10 Again, this is my knee jerk reaction of a rating and I could definitely see the rating for this film climbing with repeated viewings or maybe just a little time to reflect on it.

NEXT UP: The Crowd...Cannot find this one, so we'll be skipping it and continuing onward.

October 18, 2009 8:53pm

35. The Jazz Singer (1927)

Running Time: 88 minutes

Directed By: Alan Crosland

Written By: Alfred A. Cohn, Jack Jarmuth

Main Cast: Al Jolson, May McAvoy, Warner Oland, Eugenie Bresserer, Otto Lederer

THE SILENCE IS BROKEN

The Jazz Singer marked a big step in the progression of cinema, as it was the first feature length sound movie. Not only is it notable for that reason, but also packs quite a story with it, and is still very enjoyable today.

Cantor Rabinowitz has only one son Jakie, who he expects will follow in his footsteps and become a canter as well. For those of you who aren't aware, a cantor is a someone trained in the vocal arts who leads the Jewish congregation in songful prayer. One day when a neighbor, Yudelson, spots Jakie singing ragtime songs down at the local saloon, he spares no time in getting over to the Cantor's home and spilling Jakie's secret. When Jakie arrives home he is given a proper whipping, which causes him to leave the house, never to return, much to his mother's dismay.

Years later Jakie, now known as Jack Robin (and played superbly by Al Jolson) turns up in the jazz nightclubs, singing his heart out to please the audiences. When Mary, an already famous nightclub singer spots him and hears his voice, she takes Jack under her wing and brings him with her to stardom. Meanwhile, back home in New York, Cantor Rabinowitz still claims that "he has no son" and his mother misses him terribly.

When an opportunity arises for Jakie to perform on the grand stage of Broadway, back in his home turf on New York, he jumps on board and takes the opportunity. Upon arriving back home, Jakie immediately goes to his parents home and his mother is ecstatic to see him. As he sings her one of his songs, his father walks in and finds him, banishing him from the house and sending him back to his showbiz home on Broadway. When the Cantor turns up ill, it is up to Jakie to make the choice between his career and pleasing his stubborn father and carrying out his family heritage. What will he choose?

When Jolson belts out his rendition of "Dirty Hands, Dirty Face", the first musical number in the picture, it's really a sight and sound to behold. After thirty two silent movies in a row, it was nice to finally hear someone speak. Although, I did enjoy the silent pictures and realized a new found respect for them, it was hard to keep the smile off my face when Jolson sang his tunes. Al Jolson played the part marvelously and you could tell he was as proud as punch to be in the picture, letting all of his emotions flow out, with every musical number he performed. While only the musical numbers and a very small bit of dialogue before and after some of them, is all that is in sound, this is definitely something that anyone claiming to be a movie buff needs to check out.

RATING: 7.5/10 Not only the first talkie, but a great film and one that I would recommend based on the story alone.

NEXT UP: Napoleon...The streak is broken, as I cannot find Napoleon.

October 17, 2009 8:58pm

34. Oktyabr/October (1927)

Running Time: 102 minutes

Directed By: Sergei M. Eisenstein, Grigori Aleksandrov

Written By: Sergei M. Eisenstein, Grigori Aleksandrov

Main Cast: Vladimir Popov, Vasili Nikandrov, Layaschenko Chibisov, Boris Livanov

OCTOBER IN OCTOBER

Before writing this review, a thought came into my head: How am I going to summarize the events of this movie? I'm not ashamed to admit, that while I did follow this film and have the burdening challenge of sitting through it, I really didn't fully understand what was going on. I mean, I got the basic concept of what Eisenstein was trying to say, and that was, that apparently in 1917 there was a revolution in Russia headed by Vladimir Ulyanov, or Lenin, as he is more commonly referred to, and they overtook the government and handed the power over to the Bolsheviks. However, there was a lot more going on in this film that I just found very hard to follow. I'm not by any means a history buff, let alone a Russian history buff and had no intention of tutoring myself in the history of Mother Russia. just for the intentions of understanding this film.

After three Sergei M. Eisenstein films and with all due respect to the man and his country and the people of that country, I'm really sick of hearing about how great Russia is. I mean, hey, I'm all for someone being proud of their country, but isn't one film enough to get that point across. "Stachka", :The Battleship Potemkin" and "October", all have elements of a rebellion in them and how the great people overcame adversities in order to make life better for themselves, it's just that its getting a little old.

I did not like October, not one single bit. I thought it was very hard to understand, had no characters that the audience could connect to, had no great camerawork, like Eisenstein's previous two films and resembled a really bad documentary, except it wasn't a documentary, just a really bad re-creation. Now, keep in mind, this is just my opinion and I'm sure for Russians who were around in the month of October back in 1917, this film is kick ass. But I wasn't around back then, and have never lived in Russia, therefore the Russian revolution of 1917 has zero interest for me. And that's all I have to say about Oktyabr.

RATING: 1/10 Sorry Mr. Eisenstein, I just am not a fan and this movie solidified that opinion.

NEXT UP: The Jazz Singer...Let's talk!

October 17, 2009 3:33am