Tag Archives: 1930’s

#115- All Quiet on the Western Front

Quick recap: ‘I can’t tell you anything you don’t know. We live in the trenches out there, we fight, we try not to be killed; and sometimes we are. That’s all.’- Paul Bäumer

Fun (?) fact: Raymond Griffith, who played the dying soldier Gerard Duval, was a prolific silent film star. Having lost his voice as a child, Griffith’s career on screen was effectively over after All Quiet on the Western Front. It was really hard to find a trivia fact more depressing than this movie but I think I did it!

My thoughts: War movies are on a whole rather depressing. I’ve seen quite a few lately and I suppose it’s only fitting that I end my streak on the most depressing. Rome,Open City and The Ascent are more sad but for a soldier’s perspective, nothing compares to this.

So basically, everyone dies. I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler because A)the movie is over 80 years old and  B) it’s an anti-war film so what better way to prove your point than by killing every one?  I spent too much time trying to figure out who everyone was at the beginning of the film but after they started dying off, I realized that it didn’t matter and that it was probably best not to become too attached. The death scenes themselves were a little dramatic but once again, this movie isn’t trying to enlist anyone so might as well add all the flair you want. The battles are spectacular, though. I couldn’t keep up with what was going on which I guess was pretty realistic. It amazes me to no end that this movie was made in 1930. Many parts look far more sophisticated than what Hollywood was producing at that time. The acting too was impressive, especially considering that ‘talkies’ were still a relatively new thing.

The plot itself wasn’t hard to follow because once again, the entire movie is just watching people die. I’m in no way for censorship, but I can see the reasoning behind so many countries banning this movie. The point is said several times that dying is more important than your country which I’m not here to discuss but it seems a radical idea for the time and actually still a radical idea. It goes without saying, really, that Germany was not a fan of this movie and didn’t allow it to be shown at all until the 50s.

just in case you missed the point, EVERYONE DIES.

just in case you missed the point, EVERYONE DIES.

Final review: 4/5. I’m ready for a different topic now.

Up next: Red River

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#97- L’Age d’or

Quick recap: A man and woman want to get it on but keep getting interrupted by the church, society and family. LAME.

ruins the mood a little

ruins the mood a little

Fun (?) fact: Director Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí were good friends but had a falling out before the movie was set to start filming. The first day on the set Buñuel chased Dalí off the premises with a hammer.

My thoughts: I don’t even know. L’Age d’or begins with a documentary about scorpions and ends with an orgy with Jesus so……. basically, it’s your typical French film. I started out somewhat interested, especially when it came to the scorpions. I have severe arachnophobia and I was just thinking to myself  last night how nice it would be to have a new fear and what better than another arachnid?? But then the scene changed to a bunch of soldiers who are fighting some religious guys and I was a little confused, but figured I would catch on as the film went on. And then in the next scene the religious guys were skeletons and a man and woman were trying to have sex in public and at that point I threw my hands in the air and just went with it.

The problem I had with L’Age d’or is not that it was all symbolic, but that it was symbolism I had never seen before. At this point, I’m just going to assume everything I watched was a reference to sex in some way. On the positive side, I learned a whole new crop of euphemisms for sexual repression: ‘kicking the violin down the street’, ‘cow in the bed’, ‘slap an old woman’, and my personal favorite- ‘ murder a child for no reason’. Fun times, I’m telling you.

No, really.

No, really.

So, did the man and woman ever hook up?? I don’t know, kind of? At one point they were making out while a symphony played a few feet away and then they had each other’s hand in the other’s mouth, so I guess that counts as second base? The woman starts fellating a statue’s toe a little later on so I assume she wasn’t satisfied. At the end of the film, the two lovers are holding each other and having pillow talk- discussing how sleepy they are and how nice it is to murder children. And then the next scene the guy has blood all over his face. Luckily, I had checked out way before this scene came on and I wasn’t too traumatized.

L’Âge-d’Or

Final review: 1/5 and I don’t really think I need to go into detail as to why.

Up next: Babe!

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#81- Little Caesar

Quick recap: Rico Bandello is in the mob but dreams of becoming the top guy. He and his best friend Joe Massara head to Chicago to stir things up. Rico gets in with a gang and works his way up while his friend Joe decides he would rather just dance. Seriously. Just think of Rico as the Little Engine that Could, only with more guns and wisecracks.

nothing wrong with a little dancing

nothing wrong with a little dancing

Fun (?) fact: Little Caesar was made in the Pre-Code era, which meant that audiences were subjected to lots of violence but still not much sex. When the Hayes code went into effect, movies become ok with the moral crowd but more bland for the rest of us. This is why we can’t have nice things.

My thoughts: Although I had never seen Little Caesar before last night, I already knew who Rico was. When I think of the mob (which I do often), I either think of A) Tony Soprano or B) some 30’s mobster who wears flashy clothing, talks out of the corner of his mouth because of a fat cigar and adds the word ‘see?’ at the end of every sentence. Turns out, that caricature comes from this movie! Yet another pop culture hole filled.

I forgot the pointing at oneself with the thumb! I'm totally going to start doing that more.

I forgot the pointing at oneself with the thumb! I’m totally going to start doing that more.

Typically, the mobster stories I have seen ( just The Sopranos) have been extremely complicated and at times morally ambiguous. Little Caesar is none of that. Rico is a small time gangster who quickly rises to the top with his quick anger and ability to plan successful hold ups. I always thought joining a gang would be more difficult than just, ‘hey, I’m new in town and now I’m going to join up with you guys, see?’ But that’s seemingly what happens. And, unlike The Sopranos, there was never a point in the movie where I felt any emotion or sympathy towards Rico. To an audience member in the 30’s, I can see why that would be a preferable thing. The 20’s were about long, drawn out, epic silent films and once ‘talkies’ were introduced, it must have been nice to sit back for an hour and just watch people shoot each other. There isn’t much analyzing to do here and there are no real surprises.

Mob stories have a reputation for romanticizing crime, but I’m not sure that applies to this movie. Little Caesar was made at the start of the Depression, a time when the rich weren’t seen in the most favorable light. In a way, Rico’s story is more of a moral lesson than anything else: greed will get you nowhere. The mob may be seen as cool now, but I bet that for the average American in 1931, there was something deeply satisfying watching Rico get caught and subsequently gunned down by the police.

Is this the untimely end of Milhouse?

Is this the untimely end of Milhouse?

Final review: 2/5. I’m sad to say that although there were several newspapers shown, none of them were spinning.

Up next: The Tin Drum

 

 

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#75- the Bride of Frankenstein

Quick recap: In this heartwarming tale, Frankenstein’s monster is lonely and looking for a mate. Given his penchant for murdering practically everyone, it is decided that the best course of action would be to create a female monster made from dead bodies. How romantic!

Fun (?) fact: Elsa Lanchester, who played The Bride, said that the idea of hissing came from some swans she ran across at a park once. Swans are jerks.

My thoughts: Let’s just get this out of the way: the title of this movie is the most misleading of anything I have ever run across. 1) the Bride is never a bride because she never marries Frankenstein 2) Frankenstein is the name of the creator, not the monster, although I’m just about to give up in that area because people just don’t care and finally, 3) The Bride is onscreen for less than 5 minutes, yet the title makes it seem that this was who the entire movie would be about. Lies. Damn lies.

not the happiest portrait of the couple

not the happiest portrait of the couple

So, what was I expecting? I don’t know. I guess I was hoping for a little more monster romance. I had it built up in my mind that I would get to see Frankenstein’s monster wooing a grotesque monster like himself and then fall head over heels with her. At some point, he would ask for her hand in marriage and her hand would literally POP off! Pure comedy gold, but alas, that is not what I was treated to. Instead, I had to sit through 80 minutes of everyone hating the monster and running away at the very sight of him. He finally finds a friend in a blind priest, only to be run off again. To make things even more depressing, the monster is given a voice and a few words, which make him seem more like a toddler than murderer. In the final scene, as the monster gets to meet the love of his life, his hopes are dashed when she hisses at him. Literally hisses. Who does that? Realizing the only thing that could possibly love him is instead repulsed by his very existence, he decides to blow the castle up and end it all.

MORE LIES

MORE LIES

Final review: 2/5. I don’t see what was remotely scary about this movie. It should be relabeled as one of the most depressing films of all time.

Up next: Groundhog Day, because of course.

 

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