MAKSQUIBS CINEMATHEQUE: JOHNNY TREMAIN (1957)

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Thursday, May 22, 2008

JOHNNY TREMAIN (1957)

Simple but effective Revolution era Americana, with one iconic moment (and personality) after another comfortably sketched in without too much fuss and bother as we watch young Johnny (Hal Stalmaster, fine in his sole credit) learn Boston-based lessons in life, love, liberty & silver-smithing. What kid can forget the doctor’s offer of "a moment of pain for a life of freedom" to fix Johnny’s disfigured hand? And such an elegant production with those fine harbor matte/glass shots, and made on just a few sparely dressed sets. Between this & OLD YELLER, Disney house director Robert Stevenson had a good 1957.

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A last thought before we go.

Well, enough from me. But before we sign off, here's a great quote from Emile Zola's L'OEUVRE (THE MASTERPIECE), which is about painting rather than the yet to be invented medium of film, but which points a fine critical eye toward the whole idea of art criticism. It's a good, if chilly, thought to keep in mind, especially when you surf the net.

"Has it ever struck you that posterity may not be the fair, impartial judge we like to think it is?

"Suppose the artist's paradise turned out to be as nonexistent as the Catholics, and future generations prove just as misguided as the present one and persisted in liking pretty pretty dabbling better than honest to goodness painting. There are some accepted masterpieces for which I myself wouldn't give a twopenny damn.

"Classical training has given us a wrong view of everything and forces us to acclaim as geniuses a lot of fellows who are no more than well-balanced, facile painters, while what we might really prefer is the work of more emancipated but less even artists known only to an initiated few. Immortality at present depends entirely on the average, middle-class mind and is reserved only for the names that have been most forcibly impressed upon us while we were still unable to defend ourselves...

"Perhaps that's the sort of thing that's best left unsaid. It's certainly the sort of thing that gives me the shudders!"- Emile Zola

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Thursday, May 22, 2008

JOHNNY TREMAIN (1957)

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A last thought before we go.

DROP ME A LINE