klaus at gunpoint 3

7/27/2019 Klaus at Gunpoint 3

1/32


2/32

T a b l e o f C o n t e n t s

- K l a u s A t G u n p o i n t 3

- J u l y 2 0 1 3

Page 3 - Editorialby Christopher J Garcia

Mind the MainstreamPage 4 - Twitter ReviewsLookin at Movies via The Twittersphere

#StarTrekIntoDarkness#WorldWarZ, #MonstersUniversity

#Mud

#MuchAdoAboutNothing#TheLoneRanger

Page 10 - The Internship Meets TheMiddletons

by Christopher J Garcia

Page 15 - Jason Watches The Hitchcock 9by Jason Wiener

Page 27 - On Les Blank (1935 - 2013)by Chris Garcia

Page 28 - On Les Blanks Burden of Dreamsby Chris Garcia

Page 30 - 2 Documentary Reviewsby Tassoula Kokkoris

Send Letters/Content to [email protected]

2


3/32

E d i t o r

i a l - C h r i s t o p h e r J G a r c i a

So, this is issue three of Klaus At Gunpoint. Last issuewas way late, but turned out OK, and now issue 3 is muchmore on time! Its always good to get back on a fast-ish sched-ule, but then again, if I was all into speed, Id start a blog, no?

This issue has more of everything. Twitter Reviews? Yes.A look at a Mainstream Film via a lesser-known movie of thepast? Got it. Festival view? Of course? A look at a GIANT inthe eld who has sadly passed and the lm I consider to be hisgreatest work. Weve got two reviews of Feature Documenta-ries, and Jason Wiener tells us the tale of viewing the Hitchcock 9: all the surviving Hitchcock Silent lms that took place at the

Castro Theatre in San Francisco.Oh yeah, and a good bit more.One thing that is coming is Kurt Kuenne is the feature

section of the next issue. Hes a star, and weve already delayedthis issue twice. Hes a stud director and Im hoping that hellbreak-through soon and be the star he deserves to be!

Now, you can nd the writing of Regular Contributor Jason Wiener at http://jasonwatchesmovies.blogspot.com/ andyou can read the wonderful Tassoulas Movie Reviews at http://tassoula.blogspot.com/ and as a part of Cinebanter at http://cinebanter.blogspot.com/. Also, Ive launched a new Tea/JamesBond-themed Podcast called Leaf and Let Die

See, were all over the place!

Art by Mo Starkey


4/32

4

M i n d t h

e M a i n s t r e a m - T w i t t e r

R e v i e w

s

# S t a r

T r e k I n t o d a r k n e s s JUST;]PEACHY*@KeenKT

Star Trek Into Darkness. Ben Cumberbatch is soooo good. If youliked the rst by J.J you love this :) -

Craig Gary Phillips @craigarySo anyway I did like Star Trek Into Darkness once i got past the

idea that Benedict Cumberbatch becomes Ricardo Montalban.

Jason Enos @enosthecomposer

Just went to Star Trek: Into Darkness or as its also calledNever Bring a Batleth to a Phaser Fight.

Miggie Smalls @Notorious_MIGStar Trek Into Darkness was phenomenal. Especially if youve

seen the original movies #khaaaaaaaan

Kevin Regan @KevinReganStar Trek Into Darkness was entertaining and fun, but nothinggroundbreaking and totally forgettable. In fact... what was it aboutagain?

sarah walker @ _sarahwalkerStar Trek into darkness was so good aaaand Im a huge nerd.

Happy Sad @HappySadMoviesSTAR TREK INTO DARKNESS: Sorta makes sense that the bestTrek movie since Wrath of Khan would be a remake of Wrathof Khan :D


5/32

5

M i n d t h


R e v i e w

s

# W o r l d W

a r zAdam Montoya @SeaNanners

Experienced World War Z in 4D tonight. Angry zombie babyin the front row was intense. Id recommend reading the book.

Still a fun movie :)

ToddInTheShadows @ShadowToddTo be fair, I think World War Z wasnt actively TRYING to beboring, whereas Deep Impact was, because it equated boring

with smart.

Clayton King @Clayton_king Just saw World War Z. Ill be preaching all summer via videofrom a concrete bunker 900 feet deep in Mongolia #freakedout

Michael Grant @thefayz

Went to World War Z. Okay but damn, plot holes much?Hollywood writers get away with murder. Dumb script but still

fun.

Greg Wyshynski @wyshynskiWorld War Z was pretty good for a movie about zombiechicken linebackers who sometimes act like ants.

Jelisa Castrodale @gordonshumway Just saw World War Z. If zombies are attracted to loud noises,we should probably preemptively quarantine Stephen A. Smith.

Scott Weinberg @scottEweinbergLets make a World War Z sequel! We already have a third act

lmed! Im red, arent I? -- recently- red Paramount executive


6/32

6

M i n d t h


R e v i e w

s

# M o n s t e r s U n i v e r s i t yMarie DiPinto @reebers635

Monsters University was the most realistic college movie Iveseen in a while #MonstersU #weareok

Kelsey Burt @ChestyLaR0uSaw #MonstersU . Moral of the movie: even if you study harder

and are smarter than literally everyone else, your dreams stillwont come true

Mary Pat Smissen @MppunkyCannot begin to express how tickled I was with #MonstersU !!!

Just priceless... Disney killed it again! #kidatheart

Chris Schlichting @schlickcomedyWhats scarier than an university for monsters...the student

loans those monsters will have to eventually pay off.#MonstersU

Ashley Holbert @AshweyTheHobbitIf the sight of little kid Mike from Monsters University doesntwarm your heart than you arent even a human #MonstersU

Azlyn Grace Damerval @ AzlynGracePixar never fails to amaze me with how beautiful their animation

is and how it improves between shorts and flms. # MonstersU

Ryan Sanderson @steamboatbilljrThey were smart to make Mike a completely different characterfor this lm, but thats also one big reason prequels rarely work

#MonstersU


7/32

7

M i n d t h


R e v i e w

s

#

M u dSam Barron @sb_wreeldeal

I know @roadsidetweets had success with #Mud and#Emperor but Im a traditionalist who likes the traditional

rollout.

Kevin McSpadden @macspadwriting#mud is slow, but worth it. Kids characters are incredible.

Director didnt have balls for 1 decision. Wish he did. 4 me, B+.#moviereview

Isaac D. Sims @ jetpacks_ Mud couldnt have been better. By far my favorite movie intheaters this year. #mud

Terri Ginn @TerriGinn

Saw #Mud with @McConaughey at@FrTheatreTweets yesterday - great movie, awesome theater!

Sasha @SashaWithLuv@hannahbuch @akstanwyck @roadsidetweets What a fantasticmovie. After seeing it in April, I still tell everyone I know to gosee it. #MUD

brianhedrick @brianhedrick Mud was the best lm Ive seen this year. A beautifully executed

lm. Mcconaugheys best role. #mud

Elisa Jeanne Heine @ElisaJHeine@Tye_Sheridan #mud was a fantastic cinematic experience!Thanks :)


8/32

8

M i n d t h


R e v i e w

s

# M u c

h a d o a b o u t n o t h i n gNathan Adams @TempleOfReviews

#MuchAdoAboutNothing was a DE-LIGHT. So glad to fnally have

seen it. Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof need to be huge stars yesterday.

Shira Lipkin @shadesongMe: Im looking forward to Much Ado About Nothing.

My sister: I havent heard of that one - whats it about?#notkidding #adopted

Zac Bertschy @ANNZac Joss Whedons Much Ado About Nothing: hang out with abunch of drama majors who are really amused with their ownantics: the movie

John Kovalic @muskrat_johnMUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING from the writer of four

episodes of Roseanne

John Coxon @ johncoxonSimply an amazing lm, thanks to Lianne for seeing it with me!

:D #MuchAdoAboutNothing

Jimmy Wong @ jfwongCant wait to see the action packed lens ared EXPLOSION

FEST that is Much Ado About Nothing. Thanks @ josswhedon for Avengers Pt 2!

Life Pro Facts @BestProFactsNothing in the title of the Shakespearean play Much AdoAbout Nothing is Elizabethan slang for vagina


9/32

9

M i n d t h


R e v i e w

s

# T h e L o n e R a n

g e rDC Women Kicking Ass @dcwomenkicknass

The Lone Ranger movie bombed. I guess that means that noone wants to see action movies with male leads. AM I DOING

IT RIGHT?

Lance Mannion @LanceMannionAs Tonto Depp is Depp and thats ok. But as the Ranger

Hammer IS the Ranger and thats great!

Zack Handlen @zhandlenNone of this wouldve happened if theyd just gone with the fulltitle, The Lone Ranger Of Mars.

Joshua Malina @ JoshMalina

Now Armie Hammer has to convince people that it was theother guy from The Social Network who played the Lone

Ranger.

vaudeville vamp @curlymalloyEvery time I hear the Lone Ranger Theme... I wanna galloparound the house naked with my sleeping mask on!!!

RainnWilson @rainnwilsonI think Tonto in The Lone Ranger is actually being played by

Bjork.

John Scalzi @scalziThe good news is, there will never be another movie about TheLone Ranger. Unless its The Lone Ranger Vs. John Carter of Mars on @syfy.


10/32

10

T h e I n t e r n s h i p M e e t s T h e M i d d

l e t o n s

B y C h r i s t o p h

e r J G a r c i aThere are some lms that are harmed by being aviewer too close to the subject matter. Ive been hanging

around Google from time-to-time since 2001 or so. Ive livedwith three Googlers over the years, work just down the street

from the Campus, drive or walk by the Campus every otherday or so, and have spent a fair amount of time hanging outwith folks there, eating their free food and playing pinball.

Looking at the segments where they walk throughthe campus, it reminded me of anytime Id see a movie aboutHarvard after I had spent time around the Quad and such.There are never that many people out and about the campus,and many many many of those that are usually walk frombuilding to building with their laptops out, or heads staring atthe passing pavement full-on Slowdive style. Even on the mostfestive of days, it doesnt feel like the greatest amusementpark you ever went to as a kid, only a million times better, toparaphrase Owen Wilsons character, Nick. Its a place wherefolks work in a slightly less rigid environment, not a Wonka-esque land of pure technomagination.

The food is free and pretty damned good, too!The Internship is more of a promotional video than

anything else. It is exactly what companies like IBM andWestinghouse used to do back in the good old days. In fact, Idsay that it stacks up against the National Film Registry member

lm The Middleton Family at the New York Worlds Fair.In fact, re-watching it, the parallels are QUITE impressive.

First, let us consider the 1939 lm. The Middletonswere a family that was being used as an advertising group forWestinghouse. They were the faces of Westinghouse in a seriesof wonderful ads that ran in just about every top magazine.And of course, when youve got successful characters, youvegotta make a movie of em. The Middleton Family at the New YorkWorlds Fair was nothing more than an advertisement for twothings: The American Way of Life and Westinghouse products.Well, maybe not products, but ideas. I dont think Westinghousewas selling television cameras yet, and Im certain they werentselling robots like Electro and Sparko, but they did appear in the


11/32

11

movie. They showed industrial machines that the people watchingthe lm wouldnt be buying themselves, and automatic dishwashersthat they would eventually buy in great numbers. Westinghouse isoften credited as being the rst company to release an industrial

lm as a commercial feature. It would make sense, because it ismore of an entertainment piece than a promotional lm.

The story is of a family visiting the New York Worlds Fair of 1939 who are facing a pair of dif cult choices. The young Bud andhis father are each on one side of a debate about whether or notthere is any opportunity in the world of 1939. The young lady hadbeen dating a wonderful man from Westinghouse who is a glori edWorlds Fair tour guide, but has fallen in with an artist with distinctSocialist leanings. Its a bit over the top, of course, with the artist onlymissing the mustache to twirl while holding an anarchists bomb-shaped bomb to complete the look. The story rolls along with theinevitable victory of American Ingenuity and Westinghouse Progressover an Abstract Artists Socialist rantings. Its a simple story, but itsa lot of fun. The acting aint exactly Royal Shakespeare, but its OKfor the time. As a record of the Worlds Fair, its incredible. These


12/32

12

are images that are important to the future because they show notonly the items that Westinghouse displayed at the Faire, but also thefamily unit of the time.

The lm was given to exhibitors to show as the second half

of their double features. It almost certainly got shown around quitea bit, and likely for a long run as well. No idea how much it made, orhow widely it was distributed, but it certainly made an impact andwas included on the National Film Registry in 2012.

The Internship is better known as The Google Movie, and withgood reason. Its not nearly as much a movie about characters as itis a movie promoting the World of Google. Just like Westinghouses1939 work, they show off various technologies which arent availableyet, including the driver-less cars I have to deal with when driving towork in the morning. Where Westinghouse hung the entire conceptof American Progress on The Middletons at the New York Worlds Fair , The Internship is far more about the Future of American WorkplaceCulture than it is any other sort of lm. We are constantly barragedwith the things Google is known for providing their employees.We see the food, the nap-pods, the hammock, the volleyball court,and the dry-cleaning service. Theres those colors everywhere, andthe bikes, including that weird eight-person one that was in theMuseums parking lot one afternoon and freaked us all out. WhereFather Middleton and Jim professed Americas Greatness, Billy andNick are professing what Googles Googliness.

Oh yeah, and they show a bunch of newbs around the Campus(called Nooglers) wearing beanies, which is entirely unbelievable toanyone who hasnt actually SEEN that weirdness in person.

The Internship is every bit as dedicated to the idea of Googleas the paragon of Workplace Perfection and Google idealism thatThe Middletons is in its dedication to America. It makes everythingelse feel secondary, which is something that you could accuse of being true with the 1939 picture, only theres far more charm. TheInternship is about a workplace, a whacky one, but still a place of business. The Middletons at the New York Worlds Fair is about a fair,as much as theyre showing the innovations, theyre still at a joyousevent, and the happiness of the folks in attendance doesnt feelforced.


13/32

13

At least to an outside observer.Thats not to say that The Internship is without fun. Its not.

In every way, the team seemed to be trying to re-capture thelightning that was Wedding Crashers , only at PG-13 instead of a

Hard-R. They even had another glori ed cameo from Will Ferrellas a ridiculously sexualized half-wit. Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilsonhave a chemistry that is infectious at times, especially when theyrepitching off of each other, rapid- re, off-the-wall delivery of twogood comedic actors with an af nity for smart-ass delivery. Thecomedy of these two sh out of water doesnt carry the storytoo far, and its actively hampered by a love sub-plot that serves toseparate them somewhat. Like the twins in a Vonnegut novel, Vaughnand Wilson are only operating at full brain when theyre together.Only a long scene where Vaughns Billy keeps saying on-the-lineand being corrected on-line is truly inspired and is the only time agroup larger than just Vaughn and Wilson seems to pan out.

They get a decent cast to work with, though only Tiya Sircarand Tobit Raphael seem to be trying very hard. Theyre groupedonto a team that is exceptionally bland, though the team leader, Lyle,played by Josh Brener, seems rightfully embarrassed to be deliveringsome of the lamest faux street lines ever written (though I mustadmit, so Im going to ask her if she wants to join the Lyle HighClub? is a FANTASTIC piece of comedy.) Max Minghella, as theheavy among the other interns, seems to have taken notes fromevery Disney Channel Original Series villain. There is no subtletyto his performance whatsoever, and he really doesnt provide anytension, which is what a heavy in this kind of lm needs to do. RoseByrne, who is usually exceptionally good, is just at bland. Whileshe more than held her own in Bridesmaids, here, shes not giving usanything; partly because shes not given much to do.

And, of course, Google is a place of madcap hijinx, no?We get to see the slide used a lot, and theres a really annoyingQuiddich segment included. I get it, this is supposed to make usthink of The Bad New Bear s, its a lame portion of a lm, and it feelsmore than a little like theyre pandering to a younger demographic.Its only Vaughns pep talks that make the scene at all watchable.The idea of presenting Google as more than just another company


14/32

is annoying at best, at worst, its downright brainwashing. This couldbe a recruiting lm, but its more than that. The company mantraDont Be Evil is never said in The Internship, but there are a greatmany people who have started to feel like it doesnt apply anymore,

and this is a reaction to it. This is an attempt to make Google intoHappy Fun Town in the eyes of the audience, maybe to make themforget about all the troubles theyve had with their gMail account orthe failure of Orkut or how cool Hangouts are but lame Google+is. This is an attempt to wipe the slate clean and replace it with theimage of Normal Guys being able to play with the Big Brains andbecoming accepted by them. It doesnt manage to do it, but theyretrying.

I dont know if there was any way this lm could have workedat PG-13. A scene in a strip joint could have been as powerful asthe infamous Weddings montage from Wedding Crashers with justa few expletives and perhaps a bit of nudity. When Vince Vaughnhas half a restaurant of people rapt in laughter from telling a jokein Mandarin, imagine what sort of reaction that could have gottenif the script had the contextual wiggle-room for Vaughn to work his blue magic. If they had even given Sircars Neha some ACTUALsexual shennannigans to match with her innuendo, we may have notonly opened up her character, but provided some real comedy inthe latter half of the lm, where things get both too serious and toothin. This is a lm that I guess couldnt have gone much bluer than itdid and still been an advertisement for Google.

Which is funny, because Googles where I nd all my porn.


15/32

15

The SF Silent Film Festival presented all the (surviving)silent lms Hitchcock made-- all 9 of them --over the weekendat the beautiful Castro Theatre. Im cheating on Docfest to seethem. If you missed them, Im sorry I didnt get this posted sooner.

But there is a second chance, at the PFA in August.Friday was one movie, Hitchcocks nal silent, BLACKMAIL

(1929.) Silent Film Festival Artistic Director Anita Monga assuredus that when we see his rst (credited) turn in the directors chairwith PLEASURE GARDEN (1925) well see that he was a masterfrom the beginning. For now, I can tell you that he was a masterby 1929. Hitchcock, like many others, bemoaned how talkies ledto a decline in visual storytelling, and BLACKMAIL visually is amaster class on montage. From the very start with a sequenceshowing the cops tracking down and arresting a career criminal,we see a uidity and inventiveness thats rare in cinema from anygeneration. Narrative-wise, that sequence serves to introduceour protagonist cop, who then goes out on the town with hisbest gal, where we learn (but he doesnt, in a very funny scene)that she has another fella on the side. Like in many Hitchcock

lms, the men are helpless in their desire for the female, and themasculine action is actually moved along by feminine wiles. Illavoid spoiling too much by revealing who ends up blackmailingwhom over what (in fact, it changes) but I will say it culminatesin an exciting chase through the British Museum, which features

J a s o n W a t c h e s t h e H i t c h c

o c k 9 b y J a s o n W i e n e r


16/32

some pretty seamless trick shots (look up the Shfftan process forsome delicious cine-geekitude.)

And oh yeah, if you play the spot-the-Hithcock-cameo game,he makes it way too easy, hes on screen for several seconds as a

passenger on a train being pestered by a kid. He made his cameosbriefer in his later lms.)

And nally, lest I forget, silent lms rely on the work of theirmusical accompaniment, and the Mont Alto Orchestra did a perfect

job of it. I dont know if it was their own composition or the originalscore, but there was something about it that just felt Hitchcockian.

And that was Friday. Now Im looking forward to a fullweekend of silent Hitchcock at the Castro.

Four more movies on Saturday, exploring the masters earlyyears.

First up was CHAMPAGNE (1928). One of the mostinteresting things about this series is seeing Hitchcock workingin genres other than suspense, particularly romantic comedy. Ithink Hitchcock always had an underrated sense of humor, and


17/32

its refreshing to see him working in a more bubbly genre (punde nitely intended.) On a luxury cruise ship, the crew sees a planego down in the water and quickly send out a lifeboat. They bring apretty young lady (Betty Balfour) on board, and ask her if her plane

had mechanical troubles. No, actually she made an intentional waterlanding to meet up with the ship. See, shes a frivolous heiress toa champagne fortune, and her ance happens to be on this cruise.Well, her father is none too pleased, especially when Wall Streetruins him while hes off dealing with her apper shenanigans. A wild,mostly light-hearted ride that Id be hard-pressed to guess wasHitchcocks work if I hadnt seen the credits. But knowing it wasHitchcock made little details stand out--character points like thesinister edge to the mysterious man who takes an interest in her,or camera tricks like shooting through a glass to give the POV of achampagne drinker.

Good fun, and accompanied by the marvelous JudithRosenberg making her SF Silent Film Fest debut! Judith is actuallyone of the regulars down at the Niles Film Museum, and I ran intoher on Muni that morning. We chatted from Embarcadero to Castro,and she mentioned how nervous she was for her debut. I told hershe would be great--and for the record I was right.

BTW, if you missed any of the Hitchcock 9 over the weekend,and plan to catch them when they come to the PFA, Judith will beaccompanying all of them on the piano.

Then things went in a distinctly non-romantic, non-comedydirection with DOWNHILL (aka WHEN BOYS LEAVE HOME,1927), starring the matinee idol Ivor Novello (he will return in theweekends nale, THE LODGER). One thing that struck me whilewatching all these movies back-to-back is how misogynistic theyare. In most of them, either awful things happen to women or theyare the direct cause of awful things happening to men--and notalways to men who deserve it. This lm is the most glaring exampleof the latter, as Novellos character, Roddy Berwick is repeatedlytaken advantage of by evil, scheming women. First he takes the rapfor a friend who impregnates the local shopkeepers daughter. Hegets kicked out of school (just as he was becoming the captainof the football team.) He goes and becomes an actor (introduced

2217


18/32

in a very clever way) and marries the beautiful starlet who takes

a shine to him...right after his huge inheritance. After she eeceshim and tosses him aside, a madame in a dance hall pimps himout as a dance partner for the lonely ladies. Each further abuseand debasement leads to cleverly shot scenes of descent--on anescalator, an elevator, stairs, etc. as he descends to his next level of hell. Bleak, depressing, kinda shallow (oh, poor son of privilege hasto get a god-damned job!) and very misogynistic. Its actually based

on a stage play co-written (anonymously) by Novello, and no doubtin uenced by his own experiences of having women falling overthemselves to have him...despite being gay himself. Which makesthe end scene (SPOILER ALERT) of him nally having a happy endingwhere he can go back to the football eld and run around while big,tough guys tackle him (END SPOILER) really interesting.

The magni cent one man band Stephen Horne accompanied

on the grand piano...and ute...and accordion...and I dont knowwhat else. The man plays a lot of instruments, and hes amazing atthem all.

Next up was THE RING (1927), a boxing picture and--surprisingly enough--the only lm in with Hitchcock has sole writingcredit (although he could turn one hell of a phrase, he wasnt a fan

18


19/32

of writing dialogue and left that to his writing partners.) A fairlysimple boxing picture and love triangle. One Round Jack Sander(Carl Brisson) is engaged to Mabel (Lilian Hall Davis), who sellstickets to his show at the circus. Its one of those shows where Jack takes on all comers, and is used to knocking them out immediately.But one day a stranger comes in, takes Jack into the 4th round, andactually knockshim out. Its a little unfair, because that man, BobCorby (Ian Hunter) is actually the Australian heavyweight champion.But its all good, Bob was actually there scouting Jack as a potentialsparring partner. And when he gets the job, Jack quickly marriesMabel (in a very funny scene featuring all of the circus freaks inattendance.) But Bob has his eyes on Mabel, too, so as Jack workshis way up the rankings, it looks like he wont just be ghting for thechampionship, hell be ghting for his wife. The titular ring can refer

to the boxing ring, the wedding ring, and the bracelet that Bob givesMabel as a gift. Coiled around her arm like a snake (sinister, sexual,and Biblical allusions, there) it serves as a symbol of her in delity--avery Hitchcockian element.

The excellent Mont Alto Orchestra provided accompaniment,along with a Foley artist to provide the ringside bell. They were, of

19


20/32

course, magni cent as always.Carl Brisson again competed with a friend for the affections

of a woman in THE MANXMAN (1929). This time he plays PeteQuilliam a humble sherman on the Isle of Man (Manxman is theterm of a resident of the Isle. And I though it was Mannonite.) Hisbest friend is Philip Christian (Malcolm Keen,) a lawyer who is beinggroomed to be a Deemster (i.e., Judge.) Pete is in love with Kate(Anny Ondra from BLACKMAIL) but her father refuses becausePete is poor. So Pete sets off to nd his fortune, and asks Philip totake care of Kate while hes gone. Well, when word comes back that Pete has been killed, he does more than take care of her--hestarts planning to marry her. But before he can get around to it, Petereturns. Not only was the news of his death greatly exaggerated,hes now a very wealthy man and ready to marry Kate. So Kate andPhilip just sort of keep their brief romance a secret, Kate marriesPete, they have a baby, and Philip starts his job as the new Deemster.But Kate is still in love with Philip and that all gets pretty awkward

20


21/32

and convoluted when she ends up in front of Philips court for tryingto run away and commit suicide with her baby (whom she reveals isnot Petes.) Beautiful and tragic, with great performances, stunningnatural cinematography (the village of Polperro in Cornwall stood

in for the Isle of Man,) and of course more than a little Hitchcockianmisogyny, as this time the woman is not only the cause of suffering,but has a great deal of it heaped on her as well.

Stephen Horne accompanied, and was excellent as always.And he nally found an instrument he couldnt work into his one-man-band, so Diana Rowan helped him out on the Celtic harp.

And that was Saturday at the Hitchcock 9. Just over halfwaythrough.

And the nale, 4 more Hitchcock silent lms on Sunday.We jumped right in at noon with THE FARMERS WIFE

(1928), probably the funniest romantic comedy of the weekend. Awidowed farmer (Jameson Thomas) decides he wants to take on anew wife. So he turns to his faithful and lovely housekeeper (LillianHall-Davis) and...has her help him write up a list of all the eligiblewomen in town. And then he goes a courtin...with hilarious anddisastrous results. One rejects him, one is eager to do all the wifelywork--except nding comfort in a mans arms. One just goes locowith hysterics. And besides, none of them are much to look at. Eachtime he comes home more an more dejected and dispirited. Hesalmost ready to abandon the whole venture when he realizes what

21


22/32

22


23/32

the audience knew from the beginning--that his perfect wife wasright there in front of him the whole time. Kinda silly, kinda sappy,but it actually works. And it features a hilarious supporting roleby Gordon Harker as the handyman. Harker also showed up this

weekend as the father in CHAMPAGNE and Jacks trainer in THERING.

The amazing one-man-band Stephen Horne accompaniedagain, and did a great job.

While the misogyny in THE FARMERS WIFE was funny andabsurd (and there was a lovely paragon of womanly goodness init all), the next feature, EASY VIRTUE (1928) was downright cruel.

Based on a Noel Coward play, Hitchcock and scenario writerEliot Stannard did a great job of visually telling a dialogue-heavystory. Note, I havent seen the play, so I dont know the technicaldifferences. I can only imagine how it would be different on stage. Ido know they start with the courtroom scene that is actually theclimactic nale of the play. In it we learn that Mrs. Filton (Isabel Jeans)is in a divorce case with her husband. Although hes a drunkardwho beats her, the verdict is against her because she allegedly hadan affair with an artist who was painting her portrait (the way itwas portrayed, I believe she didnt actually do anything untoward,it was the artist who propositioned her, but his love letter doomsher.) So she runs off to the French Riviera to start a new life. Andis successful...for a while. She meets and marries a handsomeyoung man and maybe her life will turn around. Unfortunately, hisparents dont like her, and start doing a little snooping. Like I said,downright cruel. And there were Hitchcockian airs other than themistreatment of a woman--most notably the opening scene shotthrough a monocle. Judith Rosenberg once again did a fantastic job accompanying.Shes already a regular at Niles and at the PFA, and I hope shebecomes a regular for the Silent Film Festival, too.

Then for the penultimate show we went back to Hitchcocksvery rst lm (at least, his very rst nished feature lm), THEPLEASURE GARDEN (1925.) And from the start females--particularly as the agents or victims of cruelty--are central to thestory. Also, from the start hes a master of cinema. He had worked

23


24/32

pretty much all jobs on a movie set before sitting in the directorschair, and its clear he not only soaked up all the knowledge abouthow to make a lm, he also had a keen mind to invent new methods.

Jill Cheyne (Carmelita Geraghty) is a naive young girl with aninvitation to audition for the chorus at the titular nightclub, thePleasure Garden. But before she even gets into the door, her letterand all her money are snatched by a pickpocket. So she stays witha kind, wiser chorus girl Patsy Brand (Virginia Valli.) The next day

Jill pleads her way into an audition, and really wows them, so sheswell on her way to being the new star. While she is becoming a star,

her ance Hugh (John Stuart) is sent off to Africa by his company.Hughs friend Levett (Miles Mander, whom I assume got teased asbeing the mild-mannered Miles Mander,) takes a bit of a shine toPatsy, and they get married before he leaves to Africa to join Hugh.While there he, of course, philanders around and has no intentionof returning to his wife. Jill, meanwhile, is fooling around with heradmirers, especially a prince. Low morals, high decadence, and a bit

of the African fever. Hitchcock certainly started with both masteryand air.

And speaking of mastery and air, Stephen Horneaccompanied again. Im losing track of how many instruments heplays, but Im sure at least piano, ute, and accordion were in there.

And nally, we ended the night--and the weekend--with THE

24


25/32

LODGER (1927): While this was his third nished feature (after theun nished NUMBER 13, THE PLEASURE GARDEN, and the lostFEAR O GOD aka THE MOUNTAIN EAGLE) this is the one thatHitchcock himself described as the rst Hitchcock picture. A lotof the themes he would become famous for are developed here.Sinister men, murder, blonds, red herrings, mistaken suspicion, andof course high suspense. Ivor Novello stars as the titular lodger. Westart with reports of a madman murdering blonds in London (the

lm was based on a book based on the Jack the Ripper murders.)The Avenger--as he calls himself by leaving his triangular note--isknown to wear a scarf to cover his face. Soon enough, Ivor Novelloshows up wearing a scarf over his face and asking to rent a roomright in the middle of where all the murders have been taking place.Immediate suspicion ensues (going against type--another Hitchcock favorite--matinee idol Ivor looks downright creepy as the lodger.)

It doesnt help that he hates to even look at portraits of blonds.Or that hes always pacing in his upstairs room (Hitchcock showssome special effects wizardry by having the ceiling dissolve so wecan see the soles of his shoes pacing above.) Suspicion only getsworse when he actually becomes kind of friendly with the daughterof the house, Daisy (June Tripp, credited only as June.) Thats

25


26/32

especially bad because her boyfriend Joe Chandler (Malcolm Keenfrom THE MANXMAN) is a detective who is put on the Avengercase. Wonderfully suspenseful, and heavily in uenced by Germanexpressionism (particularly the fog and the shadows--like the iconic

shadow cross over the lodgers face.)You know, he had such a long career in talkies that some

people forget Hitchcock did silents. And even if you see them,sometimes its hard to see the hand of Hitchcock in his early works(particularly the romantic comedies.) But this one--even if you took away the credits you could see Hitchcock at work here. Even if youdidnt know his career spanned that far back, you could watch THELODGER and guess that if Hitchcock didnt make it, he was heavilyin uenced by it. In that way, its the perfect ending to the Hitchcock 9 weekend. If youre not going to do them chronologically, at leastend with the most Hitchcockian one.

And once again, the marvelous Mont Alto Motion PictureOrchestra provided the perfect accompaniment. Looking forwardto seeing them again (and all the other accompanists) at the SFSilent Film Festival in July.

26


27/32

O N L e s B l a n k ( 1 9 3 8 - 2 0 1 3 ) b y C h r i s G a r c i a

I rst encountered the lm of Les Blank while I was in highnot 100% sure where I was, but a 16mm projector was set up in thethe room, projecting a lm. It was a series of shots of women with gfront teeth. The projection was horrible, tons of light in the room, and

muddled, barely audible over the din of whatever mingling event I wasAnd yet I was still enthralled.I later learned that the movie was Gap-toothed Women (1987)

I would get it on video tape while I was in college. I watched it doas I tried to come up with the reason such a poorly exhibited lm, a

rst time I saw it, could still pull me in so thoroughly. The cameraparticularly precise, the editing was not ashy, the subjects, at least s

misty to me, and yet it worked so very well. When a lm can ovchallenges of the space in which it is projected, that is a lm thatattention.

This is a testament to the eye and perhaps the ears of Les BlWhile a discussion of his life may well provide break-throughs i

of in uence and drive, he is a lmmaker who is best examined throughDocumentaries of driven individuals and music and food and thought. Bone of the visual artists who best understood what a lmic conversatiand perhaps should,deliver. His two works on the National Film RegisIs As Good As Ten Mothers and Chulas Fronteras, are two of the mosdocuments of their arenas ever attempted. In fact, Garlic as Good as Tenmight be the best document on any food item in history, in uencingother documentarians and their works. From the beginning of his lmcareer, Les Blank made movies that were expressions of the passions othough often coinciding with his own passions.

And those are not the only works of Les Blank that are likebe included on the National Film Registry, the home of culturally, hisaesthetically signi cant lms. Blanks classic Werner Herzog Eats Hislikely addition, as is his other Herzog documentary which well be discuBurden of Dreams. I would not be shocked to see his work The Maesthe Cowboy Artists eventually make the list. In fact, I could name amore of his lms that were worthy of inclusion.

I really believe that the best to examine the impact and lifelmmaker is through their lms, and with Les Blank, this is doubly tr

we consider his masterpiece meditation on the darkest side of the lmprocess: Burden of Dreams.

27


28/32

28

O N L e s B l a n k s B u r d e n o f D

r e a m s b y

C h r i s G a r c i a The trouble with talking about Les Blanks Burden of Dreams is that inevitably, it becomes the story of Werner Herzog

and not of director Blank. If you can think of a subject of a docu-mentary that is more pervasive than Herzog is in this masterpiece

of cinematic inspection, Im not sure who it is. Whats strange isthat Blanks camerawork is as uid as any other shooter in history,and the editing sharp. The jungle setting for Herzogs Fitzcarraldoin South America and the boat itself are as visually appealing aspossible at the same time as presenting the con ict... or at leastthe con ict that takes place outside of Herzogs own drive/hubris(take you pick).

Many comment that Blank is practicing a form of CinemaVerite in Burden of Dreams, though I disagree. He is practicing

lmmaking, albeit in a slightly rawer form than most directors willtend towards. As has been pointed out by others as prominent asRichard Leacock, he used lights and tripods, had Herzog re-stagestatements and conversations, all within a structure that was un-narrated save by interview statements with Herzog and capturedconversation among the cast and crew.

A crew that included a large number of local jungle inhab-itants who were used as labor for the lm; a matter that Blank captures, but the lm makes no overt commentary upon.

The Burden of Dreams is, perhaps, the most impressivedocumentary about the creation of a lm ever made. The conceptof Fitzcarraldo, a driven dreamer bringing European Culture in theform of Opera into the Heart of South America, is very much thesame story of Herzog bringing him crew to Brazil to tell the storywhich Blank then records with every bit af attention that Herzoggives to his production.

WHere Bruden of Dreams goes so very right is in givingus the view of Herzog when he is NOT talking to us. When heis dealing with his situations. The long takes of Herzog dicussingsome matter or another with his crew or local chieftains We be-come entangled in Herzogs drive, and often following those re-corded interactions, we get to hear Werner try and explain themto us. At points, it feels as if he is attempting nothing more thanto convince us that his actions are rational, his work far more im-


29/32

portantl than just a lm getting made. Herzog is a director of greatapetites, visual and emotional. Here, in the jungles of South America,he has bitten off more than any crew can collectively chew, and thusthe reliance on the locals. We are shown that it is an uneasy alliance,

and that there are further dangers than the natural world for theCrew. inter-tribal ghting and jealousies are a part of this cinematiceequation. This adds an element of danger to the documentary thatis more like that found in World War II docs like The Battle of SanPietro.

The story of Fitzcarraldo, which lost its original stars, JasonRobards and Mick Jagger, and then brought in Klaus Kinsky, is almostsecondary to the idea of Herzog as main character in both the docAND his own feature, and there lies the Herzog connundrum. If Blank were actually making a Making-Of lm, why is Herzogs stateof mind such a signi cant player. The workings of the crew are sec -ondary to the words and actions of the German Director of Note.Those moments we spend with Herzog drive the lm, and ulti -mately the message. Wed encountered Herzog so vividly in BlanksWerner Herzog Eats His Shoe, and we understand that this is nota director who speaks out of anything other than his Truth, and hefollows through. In Burden of Dreams, he makes a minor master-piece ( awed in ways which disguise their very existence) and thenBlank magni es the direction of Herzogs obsession.

And truly, Fitzcarraldo, Burden of Dreams, Herzogs life, andBlanks best work, all center on obsession.


30/32

30

2 D o c u m e n t a r y R e v i e w s b y T a s s o u l a

K o k k o r i s

Room 237Dir. Rodney Ascher102 Minutes

Tonight I saw the documentary Room 237, about Kubrickslegendary lm, The Shining.

Although Ive seen The Shining a few times, and I realize itssigni cance in the history of lm, Ill confess that its never beena favorite of mine. I hoped that this documentary would perhapsconvince me to love it as much as the passionate horror fans do,but alas, instead I found myself chuckling for nearly two hours

nding no additional meaning in any of it.Basically, Room 237 gives the microphone to a handful of

obsessed fans who give lm geeks a bad reputation. These indi -viduals believe The Shining symbolizes everything from a fakedlanding-on-the-moon lm to a metaphorical holocaust.

Their evidence? Well, they see paper-tray hard-ons andsexual intercourse in the pattern of the rugs, so it must be true,right?

Of course not, but as I laughed along with the rest of theaudience hearing from these theorists, I started to cringe. Notonly at how ridiculous these fans sound; but at the sound of ourcollective laughter in response.

Who among us hasnt held a belief or a passion that noone else shared? Who among us hasnt at some point been madefun of for something (or someone) that we sincerely love?

Though I enjoyed some of their far-fetched interpreta-tions, and appreciated the comical visuals that accompanied theirnarrations, I felt bad when I thought about how they must havethought theyd be perceived (as lm scholars) vs. how theyre be -ing portrayed (as nut cases).

If only the purpose of the lm was really to hear fromcritics who approach this from a historical, academic perspective,I wouldnt have been left with such a bad taste in my mouth.


31/32

31

West of MemphisDir. Rodney Ascher102 Minutes

This afternoon I saw West of Memphis, a documentaryabout the West Memphis Three.

Ive been obsessed with this story since I rst saw ParadiseLost and its sequel a few years ago. For those not in-the-know, thecase went something like this in 1993: Three boys dead; three otherboys wrongly accused of their murders; (presumably) one killer stillroaming free. Thanks, Arkansas.

With support from stars like Eddie Vedder and Johnny Depp,and the relentless persistence of Damien Nichols (the only accusedon death row) wife Lorri, the three were nally released in the sum -mer of 2011.

Ill confess that I didnt know what an Alford Plea was untilthe three wrongly accused entered theirs to gain freedom. I criedtears of joy upon seeing footage of their release, and cried somemore today as I watched this chapter play out.

Whats new in this lm? The compelling evidence againstone of the stepfathers who was never even interviewed at the timeof the murders.

Also new? Footage of the WM3 outside of prison walls, car-rying on with their lives as they should have been allowed to in1993.

Im still digesting all that I saw (many of the graphic crimescene photos were almost too much for me to handle), but I cansafely say that anyone interested in the case or curious about theholes of our justice system that can let something like this happenshould watch it.

Its nothing short of riveting.


32/32

klaus at gunpoint 3

Documents