SVOLOCHI / BASTARDS (2006)

Here’s the pitch: With WWII raging, a ragtag group of amoral, hardened criminals are rounded up and condemned to death. There’s just one way out, serve your country on a suicide mission and hope to beat the odds & survive. Sure, it’s THE DIRTY DOZEN/’67, but with a Russian twist; the cons are all kids! It’s THE JUVENILE DELINQUENT DIRTY DOZEN, an idea both appalling and irresistible. Megger Aleksandr Atanesyan starts up in lively fashion with some seriously violent gang action, but he never bothers to explain why the army specifically needs kids for the big mission, the kids’ well-honed felonious skills barely come into play. The expected tropes of feuds & bonding make their appearance, but we only get to know about five or six characters so our emotional investment is limited. Worse yet, we never get the sort of technical detail on the climactic mission to properly understand the hellish logistics. We watch, but don’t participate. What does come across is a breathtaking level of callous indifference toward the fate of these young kids that may be closer to the mark than the filmmakers intended. But the ghastly idea, as noted, really is irresistible and the film is intensely watchable.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Can someone explain the kiddie-porn poster for the film?

D. W. GRIFFITH: Father of Film (1993)

Those exceptional film documentarians, Kevin Brownlow & David Gill of HOLLYWOOD fame*, hit all the expected notes in their three-part series on the great American director . . . and that’s the problem. Part One concentrates on how Griffith built up a syntax of film grammar by organizing and taking dramatic advantage of new film techniques. Part Two covers his brief reign as an independent titan and Part Three the loss of independence & his rapid decline as an out-of-fashion studio director. But Griffith’s best work was achieved in the creative incubator that percolated in the years between the dawn of cinema (1895-1910) and the remarkably rich final flowering of the silents (1924-1930) when he was already on the wane, and this film can’t provide enough examples from Griffith’s foreign & domestic competitors to give proper context to Griffith’s output. But kudos for ending with the lovely fade-out shot from Griffith’s enchanting pastoral dramedy, TRUE HEART SUSIE/’19. Just the sort of ‘found’ masterwork that needs more attention in a film like this.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Apparently, clearance rights on certain clips are keeping Brownlow and Gill’s HOLLYWOOD documentary from appearing on DVD.  And after all these years, so much available in newly restored clips to amaze us.  There’s never been a better (or more entertaining & informative) argument for the entire silent cinema than this wonderful multi-part documentary.  It’s bound to come out eventually, so keep your eyes open and hope that the materials are given an upgrade for the inevitable DVD edition.

MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION (1935)

This is the lesser of two classic melodramas helmed by John M. Stahl (IMITATION OF LIFE/’34 came first) that were famously remade in high TechniColor style by cult director Douglas Sirk.*  Robert Taylor became a major star as the rich playboy who unintentionally causes Irene Dunne to lose both a husband & her vision.  (In the Taylor role, Sirk’s remake pushed Rock Hudson to major stardom in 1954.)  Chastened by the consequences of his flip lifestyle and guided by a spiritual protegé of Dunne’s late spouse, Taylor turns over his life to financially supporting, loving and curing the injured lady.  Stahl’s work is less fluid then expected, and he seems unable or unwilling to bring out the charm needed to balance the arrogance in the disconcertingly pretty Mr. Taylor.  And there’s something downright creepy in the story’s philosophy of making anonymous gifts in the expectation that such acts will further one’s personal ambitions; treating God as a sort of good deeds/good works pay-it-forward, transactional vending machine.  Ever the pro, Irene Dunne manages her role without a trace of bathos, especially when compared to Jane Wyman in the Sirk remake, but this famous film has dated poorly.  A particular shame as so many superior films by Stahl are so hard to get hold of.

NOTE: Stick with the original mono audio track as the stereo mix whipped up for the DVD is a foggy mess.

DB/LINK:  *Stahl earned his own TechniColor stripes in stupendous fashion with LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN/’45.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2011/10/leave-her-to-heaven-1945.html

SOMETHING FOR THE BOYS (1944)

At the height of WWII, even this famously idiotic B'way musical, with a sub-par Cole Porter score (‘He’s A Right Guy,’ ‘By The Mississinewa’) could be a smash hit. Especially with Mike Todd’s showmanship & Ethel Merman in her prime. The film version drops the Porter score & Merman, but adds even more idiocy. Three cousins (Vivian Blaine, Phil Silvers & Carmen Miranda are the unlikely DNA sharers) inherit a dilapidated Southern mansion near a big army base and turn it into a hotel for army wives. Naturally, there’s a crisis to solve which is accomplished when Miranda’s tooth fillings start acting as a radio receiver & transmitter. Believe it or not, this comes straight out of the original show! A couple of relaxed numbers, one with debuting Perry Como, aren’t too awful and Phil Silvers does what he can (until they put him into modified blackface), but this one’s more like something for the birds.

NOTE: On the Extras, look for an excellent, and rather touching, bio of Carmen Miranda.

TINI ZABUTYKH PRESKIV / SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS (1964)

Russian helmer Sergei Paradzhanov sidestepped Soviet Realism and plunged into the world of Ukrainian folklore in this award-winning movie fable. His style of filmmaking was sui generis with a cornucopia of brightly colored visual effects and italicized acting used to recreate the feeling of an initial encounter with a beloved National myth. Naturally, there’s a boy & a girl who shouldn’t be together, but cannot live apart. Only fate can test them and only death can bring them back together. Thru Paradzhanov’s eyes, the experience is, at first, ravishing just to look at, but as the story plays out, visual fatigue sets in with his relentless inventiveness. He’s like an almost great painter whose reputation is diminished rather than enhanced by a large retrospective.

COUNSELLOR-AT-LAW (1933)

In 1932, John Barrymore co-starred with Greta Garbo in GRAND HOTEL, with his sister Ethel in the undervalued RASPUTIN & THE EMPRESS and with Katherine Hepburn in her debut pic, A BILL OF DIVORCEMENT. The experience seems to have jarred him into rethinking his position on film acing and, over the next two years, until his constitution gave way, he turned out a series of virtuoso acting lessons in the art he had so long disdained. Vanity & disintegration in DINNER AT EIGHT, so raw people thought he was simply being himself; high comedy in REUNION IN VIENNA, a B’way hit of dubious quality; top-notch light boulevard comedy in TOPAZE; ham acting in Howard Hawks classic TWENTIETH CENTURY; and, best of all, this stunning dramatic perf in William Wyler’s masterly adaptation of Elmer Rice’s B’way smash. In COUNSELLOR-AT-LAW and MEN IN WHITE, Rice created the sturdy templates for all the classic film & tv legal dramas & doctor shows to follow. But only LAW still feels thrillingly immediate with its blistering pace and indelible supporting roles. Barrymore plays NYC’s top criminal lawyer, a non-religious, assimilated Jew (with a rich, WASP wife) who neither forgets, regrets or is ashamed of his Lower East Side past. The multiple story arcs have him defending rich & poor clients, his own hollow marriage & his personal reputation amidst a mix of ethnic NYC types who constantly move thru the office. Wyler’s staging and camera moves are brilliantly handled, a continuous ear-to-ear grinning pleasure to watch. It would be foolish to single out any of the great supporting performances (nowadays the whole cast would sweep the acting awards), but Bebe Daniels earns special naches as Barrymore’s loyal, love-struck secretary. Alcohol would soon rob us of Barrymore’s best efforts, and the enduring appeal of DINNER AT EIGHT and TWENTIETH CENTURY would skew our view of his talents (in his prime he only played drunks & hams), but seen whole his work from 1932-34 is enough to keep the legend alive.

CONTEST: Two future Hollywood directors have acting roles in this film.  Name the players & their parts to win our usual prize, a MAKSQUIBS Write-Up on any streamable film of your choice.

CHARLIE CHAN’S SECRET (1936)

Art director Gordon Wiles got promoted to megger for this Warner Oland Charlie Chan pic, but he didn’t exactly freshen things up. The script has all the elements for Chan to ring the changes and cleverly solve the crime: a rich old lady with a new will, the return of a long lost relative, a phony psychic running a seance in a haunted house, a couple of murders, and a gaggle of aphorisms for Charlie to spout. But it sure feels tired. Maybe if Number One son were around instead of poor Herbert Mundin’s comic relief servant. A better idea was in portraying the easy friendship between grand dame stage actress Henrietta Crossman (THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BROADWAY/’31; PILGRIMAGE/’33) and Oland. There’s something endearing in the way she calls him ‘Charlie’ and their close ties set up a neat trick ending. When they’re not on screen, entertain yourself by noting how much Egon Brecher’s caretaker looks like the great British character actor Wilfrid Lawson. There’s a mystery worthy of the great Charlie Chan.

LADY KILLER (1933)

Inane, but entertaining James Cagney vehicle is like a Warner Bros. Pilgrim’s Progress in 74 snappy minutes. In New York, Jimmy is a wise-ass movie usher who’s fired, and then ‘taken’ by some crooked card sharps. He turns tables on these mugs and soon has them all working for him, running a fancy gambling den. But a murder screws up his quick success and he goes on the lam to Chicago with moll Mae Clarke. (Yep, the doll who got the grapefruit in the kisser in PUBLIC ENEMY/’31.) Cagney’s old pals set him up for the murder rap and he flees to L.A. Deserted and ‘on-the-bum,’ he’s spotted by a studio man who’s cruising local dives for movie extras with ‘character.’ Cagney’s a natural on camera and he’s soon being groomed for stardom when . . . his old crooked pals come to pull him back in. Helmer Roy Del Ruth manages the first two acts smoothly, but we seem to be watching an entirely different film after Chicago. It’s fun to see how untamable Cagney’s character is, even when he hits the big time in Hollywood, but sad to see his fine rapport with Clarke scuttled for nice gal Margaret Lindsay who does little for Jimmy. Production Code junkies should note that Cagney gets off scot-free even though he’s an accessory to two (count ‘em, 2) murders; including a cop!

BARDELYS THE MAGNIFICENT (1928)

When a ‘lost’ film as prominent as BARDELYS turns up, cineasts hope for the best and expect the worst. But this last collaboration between John Gilbert & helmer King Vidor (a Rafael Sabatini swashbuckler like his SCARAMOUCHE/’52, CAPTAIN BLOOD/’35 & THE SEA HAWK/’24*) is really something to cheer about. (There’s a bit of missing footage in the third reel, but it’s nicely covered with production stills.) Gilbert plays a ne’er-do-well Count in the French aristocracy who is tricked into waging his fortune against an unlikely marriage to lovely Eleanor Boardman. And it’s only when Gilbert shows up at her country estate that Vidor drops the forced comic tone that suits neither him nor his star and lets the film find its proper dramatic balance. It hits a remarkable peak when Vidor pulls off one of his grand romantic interludes as the lovers glide thru willow branches on a boat and, after this, even Gilbert’s derring-do has just enough gravitas attached to it so it never feels like second-best Doug Fairbanks. The production is large, but not bloated, and lenser William Daniels turns in some exceptional trick shots. (Watch for a stunning balcony fall that Hitchcock must have studied.) As ‘lost’ films go, this one’s a keeper.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID:  *The famous Errol Flynn SEA HAWK from 1940 uses little of the original Sabatini story.