This is my favorite time of year, second only to Christmas.
Autumn has arrived, the weather is cooling down, and October becomes the month-long
celebration of scary movies called Shocktober. There are a lot of horror movies
out there, but as a genre, horror is still looked down upon by some mainstream
critics and moviegoers. It doesn’t help that, admittedly, there are so few
quality horror movies made but, like comedy, it’s a very difficult and
subjective genre. So, in the days leading up Halloween I’ll be posting some
recommendations for scary movies to help you celebrate Shocktober.
Night 7: George Romero Memorial Night “A real live honest to goodness vampire”
A decade after director George Romero changed horror cinema
and pop culture forever with his landmark film Night of the Living Dead, he tackled
another iconic movie monster: the vampire. Martin is not like any other vampire
film, and the titular character is not like any other movie vampire. Martin (John Amplas), a shy 17-year-old, believes that he is a
vampire—not the creature of folklore and movies, but a real-life vampire. He
doesn’t sleep in a coffin, can be out in daylight, and doesn’t have fangs, but
he craves human blood. He goes to live with his kind cousin,
Christine, and his fanatical grandfather, Cuda, who swears to cure Martin of
vampirism.
This is a most unusual movie. it contains nothing supernatural. As Martin says many times: there is no magic. The atmosphere is low-key and subdued emphasizing the odd nature of Martin’s delusions and making the scenes of violence especially stand out. The third act is just as unusual, involving a car chase and a big bloody shootout. However, even this sequence somehow does not break the movie’s low-key tone.
Martin has the grainy, low budget look of many movies from
the 1970’s giving it a quasi-documentary feel. Romero had originally intended to
shoot the entire film in black and white. The film's producers insisted that
the movie be in color, but the flashes of Martin’s fantasies are in black and white. These short scenes have a dreamlike quality thanks to the black and white
photography. The fantasy sequences mirror the events of the movie giving a brief glimpse into Martin’s mind and how he experiences those moments.
The blood and gore in Martin are mild compared to other
horror movies, even other horror movies from the 70’s, but they may still make
the squeamish turn away. This was legendary special makeup effects artist Tom Savini’s first movie as both a makeup artist and an actor. He originally
auditioned for the role of Martin but was given a smaller role and hired for
special effects instead. This movie is also Savini and Romero’s first
collaboration. They would go on to work together on Dawn of the Dead, Day of
the Dead, Creepshow, Monkey Shines, and Two Evil Eyes. Romero eventually gave
Savini a much larger acting role in his odd Renaissance fair motorcycle movie,
Knightriders. The recipe Savini used for the blood in Martin was the same
recipe for stage blood and the result was a bright orange-red blood. It doesn’t
look entirely realistic on film, but it does give the movie a stylish feel
similar to Italian horror movies of the same era. Savini also ended up doing
stunts and can be spotted getting hit by a car.
Martin may lack big scares but its approach to the vampire makes it
incredibly interesting. The score, cinematography, direction from Romero give
Martin a lyrical, dreamlike quality at times. This is the sort of movie you could watch
with someone that doesn’t like horror movies since it’s secretly an offbeat drama about
a disturbed young man. Unfortunately, Martin is a very rare film. The DVD is out of print and
expensive to purchase, but if you ever get the chance to see Martin I highly
recommend watching it for Shocktober.
East Lynne is
fortunately not a lost film, but it is unavailable to the general public. There
is only one print of the film in existence and it is kept at the UCLA Film Archive. It is a non-circulating item, but can be viewed by appointment. I
fully intend to make such an appointment to view East Lynne (along with the other Best Picture nominee that only
exists in their archive, The White Parade (1934))
once a trip to Los Angeles fits my schedule and budget. Until then, what I know
about East Lynne I have gathered from
IMDB.com, Wikipedia, the blogs of people that have seen the film at UCLA, and,
most importantly, the reviews from the New York Times and Variety from the film’s
initial release.
Produced and released by the Fox Film Corporation, East Lynne is a Victorian era set
melodrama based on a novel by Ellen Wood. It stars Ann Harding as Lady Isabella
Carlyle, Conrad Nagel as her husband Robert, Clive Book as Sir Francis Levison,
who is in love with Isabella, and is directed by Frank Lloyd. The movie follows
Lady Isabella, a member of society’s upper echelon, who suffers
misfortune after misfortune including the sabotaging of her marriage, a divorce,
and ostracization. The film’s finale has her rushing to see her son again
before she goes completely blind. The story had been adapted as a play and the
movie is based on the stage version as much as the novel though it makes
changes to both.
The review in Variety (the author credited is “Variety Staff”)
published on December 31st, 1930 has the has the headline: “An excellent piece
of work in taking a legendary meller [melodrama] play and transposing it into a
screen drama of strength and charm.” In his review for the New York Times,
published on February 21st, 1931 just as the film was released
nationwide, Mordaunt Hall writes, “Many a dainty handkerchief was dabbed on a
pretty face during some of the episodes in the career of the unfortunate Lady
Isabella; this alone was a testimonial to Miss Harding's impressive
performance.” Hall goes on to praise Harding: “when Miss Harding appears,
always attractively gowned, she captures one's full attention.” The Variety
review agrees, stating that Harding gave an “outstanding performance.” Both
praise the sets and interior design by Joseph Urban and have positive things to
say about director Frank Lloyd. Both reviews are positive overall though each
has one complaint. Variety states that the scene in which Isabella meets her father
in Paris is a “false note.” The sole complaint of the Times’ review is: “The
actual ending of the film is a trifle too melodramatic, but what happens just
before is accomplished in an appealing fashion.”
The modern reviews from the blogs of other people dedicated
to watching every Best Picture nominee range from very negative to mixed. The
consensus from those reviews is that East
Lynne is an outdated melodrama. It will be some time before I can concur or
disagree with the modern reviews or the reviews from the movie’s theatrical
release. As far as I can tell only from what I have read, it seems that East Lynne, being an adaptation of a
well-known novel and play with decorative sets and costumes and
heavy melodrama would be considered “Oscar bait” today. Even then the Academy
couldn’t resist, but only gave it one nomination, for Outstanding Production.
Nominee: Fox
Producer: William Fox Director: Frank Lloyd Screenplay: Tom Barry and Bradley King, based on the novel
by Ellen Wood Cast: Ann Harding, Conrad Nagel, Clive Brook Release Date: March 31st, 1931 Total Nominations: 1, including Outstanding Production Other Nominations: N/A
The Divorcee’s
nomination for Outstanding Production shows that the Academy’s interest in
controversial but popular films existed since its early years. This film is
based novel The Ex-Wife by Ursula
Parrott, which was also popular and controversial when it was released. The
controversy of the novel and film stems from its subject matter: marital
infidelity and divorce. MGM was hesitant to be associated with the racy novel,
so the title of the film adaptation was changed to The Divorcee, a classier way to say “ex-wife” I suppose. This would
not be a racy or controversial film today, but it remains quite entertaining. The Divorcee has interesting characters,
good performances, and a good sense of humor and drama. The Divorcee was released on DVD in the TCM Archives Forbidden Hollywood Collection Volume 2, but this set has since gone out of print making tracking down a copy slightly difficult and expensive (it currently sells on Amazon.com for $130). However, it airs occasionally on TCM, and I very much recommend watching it should it be on the schedule.
MGM may have acted like they did not want to court
controversy, but is seems as though they didn’t put great effort into making The Divorcee any less controversial. The Divorcee may be tame and even
conservative by 21st century standards, but modern viewers should
keep in mind that this was a time when the subject of divorce, let alone female
sexuality, made for impolite and improper conversation. This movie pushed
boundaries, addressed the double standards of male vs. female infidelity, and,
most of all, it had a good, well-developed, strong, and interesting female
character as the lead.
I had been looking forward to watching The Divorcee since I haven’t seen many Pre-Code movies. Pre-Code
Hollywood refers to the brief time period after the advent of sound films until
the strict enforcement of the Hays Code in 1934. At this time films were not
protected under the First Amendment because of a Supreme Court ruling in 1915,
which declared films were purely commercial and not art. That unfortunate and
idiotic decision would be overturned in 1952. The Hays, or Production Code, was
actually created in 1930, but it was not enforced until the summer of 1934 when
every film was required to have a Production Code seal of approval before it could be released. The
Production Code severely regulated and limited a film’s content and subject
matter. Before then movies were free to contain violence, risqué subject matter
(like infidelity and divorce), and, most notable of all, highly suggestive
innuendo.
The coveted title role of The Divorcee went to Norma Shearer, but it did not come easy to her even though she was married to MGM
production chief Irving Thalberg. He originally wanted to cast Joan Crawford.
At that time, Shearer was known for playing “lady-like” characters, so Thalberg
thought she lacked the sensuality the role would require. To prove her husband
wrong, Shearer had a series of photos taken of her posing provocatively in a
revealing dress. Her plan worked. Thalberg cast her and she won Best Actress at
the next Oscars. Shearer’s nomination, however, was for The Divorcee and her
performance in another film,Their Own Desire (1929). When she was announced as the
winner, only The Divorcee was specified and the reason for this remains unknown
even to Academy historians.
The film begins with a group of friends having a getaway
party at a country house. Jerry (Norma Shearer) announces her engagement to
Ted, played by Chester Morris, much to the poorly hidden disappointment of her
other suitors, Paul (Conrad Nagel) and Don (Robert Montgomery). Paul gets very
drunk but still drives a car full of people, including Jerry’s sister, Dorothy,
down a winding road. The car crashes and Dorothy is disfigured. As Jerry
marries Ted in a pretty ceremony in a church, Paul marries Dorothy out of pity
in a hospital room. After three happy years, Jerry discovers that Ted has been
unfaithful and responds by having an affair of her own, with Don. Jerry and Ted
divorce, and then Jerry decides to live it up.
I was worried that The
Divorcee would be tonally uneven with the first half being light and
romantic and the second half being mostly dramatic, such as with The Crowd (1928) and The Love Parade (1929). Like those
films, it does begin as a light romance, then becomes a drama but never becomes
too heavy to be entertaining. Though the second half of the film is where all
of the drama and tension lies, it is not devoid of comedy. The Divorcee has a good sense of humor and delivers laughs at a
steady, consistent pace. In a scene late in the movie, Don runs into Ted in New
York. Ted is a mess from the divorce. The scene grows tense as Ted describes to
Don what he’d do if he ever found the man with whom Jerry had her affair. It’s
an awkwardly funny and tense scene that is capped with a good visual punchline
from Montgomery.
The tagline for The
Divorcee asked the scandalous question: If the world permits the husband to
philander, why not the wife? When Jerry and Ted become engaged they agree that
their marriage will be a partnership and they would be equals. The film takes
subtle steps to suggest that Jerry is the equal of her male counterparts. In
the novel, the main character’s name is Patricia, but— according to the DVD
commentary by film historians Jeffrey Vance and Tony Maietta— was changed to
Jerry for the film to represent gender equality. Vance and Maietta cite other elements
like Jerry wearing masculine clothing (trousers) in the opening scene and her
turning down Don with a polite handshake as aspects showing that Jerry would
treat people and situations the way a man would, not the way society dictated a
woman of the time would. I concur with their assertions. When Jerry confesses her
infidelity to Ted, which she feels very guilty about, she begs him to remember
what he told her about his own affair: it didn’t mean anything. As Jerry
confronts Ted with this role reversal, the movie confronts the audience with
the double standard towards female infidelity. Ted does not take it well.
Jerry’s indiscretion is done in part as an act of revenge, but also an act of
equality.
I can see why Shearer want to play the part of Jerry; it’s
an interesting, well-developed, and challenging role for any actress to play. The
great thing about Jerry is that even while “living it up” she is never indecent
or immoral. The film’s climax is a test for her character: she runs into Paul
who tells her that he still is and always has been in love with her and is
ready to leave his wife, her sister, for her.
The Divorcee has
everything I’d hoped to see in a scandalous Pre-Code movie. The parties the
characters attend throughout the movie are big, glamourous, and ornate with
balloons and streamers, and lots of alcohol, even though the movie was made during
Prohibition. The parties are what you think of when you imagine parties of that
era. It is interesting to see how films of the Pre-Code era managed to be
risqué without being crude or crass. The
Divorcee, like all Pre-Code films, implies more than it shows which ends up
making certain scenes more provocative and effective. The movie shows us Jerry
sitting close to Don in a taxi with a devious look on her
face. The next thing we see is a shot of a window and curtains closing.
The Divorcee has a
fair share of visually interesting moments beginning with a shot of everyone at
the country house standing in the doorway watching Jerry and Ted. The scene of
a drunken Paul driving a speeding car down a winding road is already tense enough,
but the POV shots of the road speeding toward the screen intensifies the danger
and suspense. Perhaps the most memorable sequence is a brief montage of Jerry
meeting men after her divorce. She is dressed glamorously and her hair is done
up gorgeously. The film shows us each man’s hand holding her hand. She accepts
jewelry from one of the gentlemen saying, “I’ve heard of platonic love but I
didn’t know there was such a as thing as platonic jewelry.” The movie leaves it
up to the audience to decide what happens before or after each shot.
I found The Divorcee
quite entertaining as both an attempt at social commentary and as a romance
film. By addressing the real and stressful moments that often do rear their
ugly head on a happy couple, The Divorcee
becomes a film of substance and emotion. While its ultimate conclusion seems
old fashioned or “traditional” by today’s standards, it also ends with a happy
couple, which fits the tone of the movie. It’s clear to any modern viewer that
the film treats divorce as something that is detrimental to everyone and seems
more forgiving of male infidelity, however, The
Divorce as a whole should not be disregarded because of these dated aspects.
I hope that modern viewers won’t dismiss it as a quaint but unsuccessful
attempt at a feminist movie. It is a glimpse at what a particular era thought
of marriage, infidelity, and sexuality. It is also enjoyable to see a strong
female character as the lead in a film from the 1930’s—something that remains
unfortunately infrequent in films of today.
Nominee: MGM
Producer: Robert Z. Leonard
Director: Robert Z. Leonard
Screenplay: continuity and dialogue by John Meehan,
Treatment by Zelda Sears and Nick Grinde, based on the novel Ex-Wife by Ursula
Parrott
Cast: Norma Shearer, Robert Montgomery, Chester Morris,
Conrad Nagel
Release Date: April 30th, 1930
Total Nominations: 4, including Outstanding Production
Win: Actress-Norma Shearer
Other Nominations: Director-Robert Z. Leonard, Writing-John
Meehan
I didn’t have a very difficult time finding a copy of Alibi on VHS, but the DVD seems to have gone out of print. However, Alibi is readily available on DVD as part of the collection of early Academy Award Best
Picture nominees, The Envelope Please Vol. 1 (which also includes the rare
silent Best Picture nominee, The Racket).
The home video cover art for Alibi bears a quote from the New York Times declaring, “It is by
far the best of the gangster films.” I’m not well acquainted with other
gangster films of this time period, but I think it is safe to say that
audiences at the time had not seen a crime film quite like this one.
Alibi stars
Chester Morris as Chick, a criminal recently released from prison who uses his
date with a policeman’s daughter as his alibi for the murder of a police
officer. The policeman’s daughter, Joan, believes in giving people second
chances and that the police will railroad people just to get a conviction. Her
view of the police comes off as rebellious until the film proves her correct,
which is what sets Alibi apart from
the other gangster films of this era that I have seen. The Racket had corrupt cops and good cops. Nearly every cop in Alibi is a corrupt brute, and the
criminals are portrayed just as negatively. The police suspect Chick instantly
of the murder of the patrolman based on no evidence, just prejudice, and go
about bullying people into naming Chick as the murderer. In one scene two
policemen first threaten to frame a random ne'er-do-well for the murder if he
doesn’t name Chick; then they threaten to kill him.
Just about every character in Alibi is one dimensional. Once the movie
reveals whether or not Chick is the murderer, he, and the movie, become far less
interesting. There is one wholly good police officer named Tommy, who is also a suitor of Joan. Though his character ultimately emerges as the hero of the movie, he is also a very bland character. The only continuously interesting character in this movie is
Danny, a clichéd drunk played by Regis Toomey, who is friends both with
gangsters and cops. He decides to be an informant for the police and is at the
center of the most tension filled scene in the movie.
Alibi indulges the
new spectacle of sound with as much enthusiasm as other early sound films.
Though not a musical, there are more than a few song and dance numbers in the
scenes at the nightclub hangout of the gangsters. The film’s opening scene is
loaded with sounds: a prison guard twirling his nightstick, a chiming bell, and
every step of marching prisoners lining up for roll call. The sound quality of
the DVD is mostly good, but becomes spotty at times and even cuts out completely for a
moment or two.
Alibi is a
visually impressive film and received an unofficial nomination for Art
Direction for its bold and stylish art deco sets. City streets rush toward us
in a POV of a speeding car. In one scene a character attempts to leap from the
roof of one skyscraper to the next only to fall to his death and the effect is
pretty impressive. The camera even moves a little bit more than the other early
sound movies I’ve seen. In one shot the camera pushes through a crowded nightclub to a line of
singing and dancing chorus girls. Perhaps most notable and interesting of all
is Alibi's use of light and shadow giving it a look that would become a staple of crime movies and
become woven into the fabric of Film Noir.
Alibi certainly
feels like an early sound film, as though it is still trying to figure out the
best way to use dialogue, images, and sound effects to tell a story. It feels
edgy due to the harsh and blatantly negative portrayal of the police, which I
admit had me stunned. This is a Pre-Code film, so the strict
and puritanical Hays Code censoring and restricting a film's content was not yet being enforced. That edgy portrayal of
cops and criminals is Alibi’s
defining trait but also its primary flaw. With both cops and criminals equally
bad and despicable (except for the one good, bland cop) there is no one to root
for. Some aspects of Alibi hold up
more than others making it an interesting but uneven early Best Picture
nominee.
Nominee: Feature Productions, United Artists
Producer: Roland West
Director: Roland West
Screenplay: Roland West and C. Gardner Sullivan, from the
play by John Griffith Wray & J.C. Nugent and Elaine S. Carrington
Cast: Chester Morris, Harry Stubbs, Mae Busch, Eleanor
Griffith
Release Date: April 20th, 1929
Total Nominations: 3, including Outstanding Picture
Win(s): N/A
Other Nominations: Actor-Chester Morris, Art
Direction-William Cameron Menzies
The silent crime film The
Racket was based on a popular Broadway play which starred Edward G Robinson
as a mob boss. Robinson was subsequently brought to Hollywood by Warner
Brothers to star in several of their gangster pictures, while the rights to the
play were purchased by Howard Hughes. The film was produced for the Caddo
Company and Paramount Famous-Lasky under the direction of Lewis Milestone, but
without Robinson. The story centers upon honest policeman captain McQuigg and
his clash with the powerful gangster Scarsi, who is protected by corrupt
politicians. The implied setting of the film is Chicago, though the city is not
named, and mob boss Nicholas Scarsi is a reference to real life Chicago
gangster Al Capone, who was nicknamed “Scarface.” Both the play and film
portray Chicago’s politicians as corrupt and police force as ineffective, as
well as corrupt. The Racket was a hit
with audiences and critics, but it was banned in Chicago (the play had also
been banned by the city).
Though The Racket
was a hit at the time, I think that this film stands out among all the nominees
as being least worthy of a nomination – in either of the “best picture” categories.
Straight away the movie has a conventional look and feel that lacks the
artistic flair of the Unique and Artistic nominees, or even the other two
Outstanding Picture nominees. There is one interesting visual effect in a scene
set at a gangster’s funeral: as Scarsi looks at all of the other gangsters
holding hats on their laps, the hats dissolve away to reveal that the men are
all holding guns under their hats, ready to shoot. Aside from that moment, and
a quick shot using silhouettes of police officers in the station, the
cinematography is not noteworthy. In a film as dialogue and plot-heavy as this
one, a degree of visual style is essential for keeping the viewer engaged.
The film begins with Captain McQuigg and Scarsi not-so-casually
meeting after McQuigg has been involved in a shooting. The two have obviously
met before and they refer to each other by their nicknames: Mac (for McQuigg)
and Nick (for Nicholas Scarsi). Scarsi makes a few gestures to try to charm
McQuigg. He tells the policeman to stay clear of a street corner where Scarsi’s
men plan to rob a rival gang and also invites McQuigg to his kid brother’s
birthday party. We then see each man go to his office where it is clear each
one is the boss of his respective racket. Scarsi’s office is in a brewery with
bootleg barrels of alcohol. McQuigg’s office is, naturally, the police station.
McQuigg later shows up to the street corner he was warned about where there is
a shootout and he arrests one of Scarsi’s men. McQuigg eventually arrests
Scarsi, but the gangster uses his political connections to get himself and his
men freed from jail and to get McQuigg transferred.
As soon as there are reports of a shootout, the press arrive
and they offer good comic relief. There is a humorous scene of reporters from
rival newspapers sizing each other up, all of them trying to get the scoop on
McQuigg’s sudden transfer. The reporters are all hoping for something to spark
another fight between Scarsi and McQuigg, even if they have to start it
themselves.
The Racket is a
top-heavy film; the scenes on the streets and in night clubs, as well as the
shootouts and car chases are all in the first half of the film. Once the
arrests are made, McQuigg hatches a plan to put Scarsi away once and for all
before his transfer, but the action and pace of the film go into low gear. The
film begins to resemble a stage play with the plot advancing through dialogue,
rather than action, and the characters are confined to a couple of different
rooms making the film visually uninteresting. Throughout, the film uses mostly
medium and wide shots, which sometimes makes it difficult to tell which
characters are speaking, especially since the policemen all wear uniforms and the
reporters and gangsters are dressed in similar-looking suits and hats. Since
there are few to no close ups, it is difficult to distinguish the faces of
minor characters. This is all very unfortunate since the story in the last half
of the film depends so heavily upon the dialogue.
It was very difficult to find a copy of The Racket. For many years it was considered a lost film, but after
Howard Hughes’s death the only existing print was found in his film collection
along with another film he produced, Two Arabian Nights (also directed by Milestone in a more interesting style). It
was restored by the film department of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and
occasionally airs on TCM. The only copy I could track down is part of a DVD
collection of early Best Picture nominees called Academy Collection: The Envelope Please Vol. 1. I could find no other legitimate sources for watching The
Racket, aside from catching it on TCM whenever it happens to air. The
picture quality is not very clean, but it is acceptable; however, there is a
DVD distributor watermark in the lower left hand corner of the film, which,
while unobtrusive, is still annoying.
I wonder what about this film struck a chord with audiences
and critics of the time? Perhaps it was The
Racket’s portrayal of the ubiquitous crime and corruption caused by Prohibition,
which was then in effect. Because the story was inspired by news and events of
the day, it probably felt unfortunately true-to-life and had an immediate
resonance. It shows an honest man’s struggle against seemingly insurmountable
corruption and how trying to change just one part of the system means taking on
the whole machine. But it’s all in a day’s work for good policemen like
McQuigg.
Nominee: The Caddo Company, Paramount Famous-Lasky
Producer: Howard Hughes
Director: Lewis Milestone
Screenplay: Bartlett Cormack, based on his stage play;
scenario by Del Andrews
Cast: Thomas Meighan, Louis Wolheim, Marie Prevost
Release Date: November 1st, 1928
Total Nominations: 1, including Outstanding Picture
