Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Movie Review: Inside Out
Movie Review: Captian Underpants: The First Epic Movie
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
Movie Review: Wonder Woman
Michael's Movie Grade: B-
A good movie, even if it isn't a great one. However despite any faults after Batman VS. Superman and Suicide Squad this movie being good is a very pleasant surprise.
The best things about this film are the characters of Diana and Steve as well as the world of Themyscira. After the unpleasant look to many of DC's most recent live action films, the world of Themyscira is a revelation. It is in fact beautiful to look at. When this place was first shown I couldn't believe my eyes, here was something in a live action DC movie that was pleasant to look at. However the goodness doesn't end there. This world is very well set up and ends up feeling very real to us. The two main characters are also delightful. They feel very well fleshed out and really grow on the audience. Over the course of the movie you really get to care about these two and just enjoy seeing them.
However despite the good points this film has its share of faults. While the two main characters are interesting they are the only ones. Every other character is undeveloped and even boring. This especially goes for the villains. Most of these villains are just plain boring and with very little interesting about them. Two of them especially feel like the time dedicated to them is just wasted. These two feel like they are simply there to pad the length of the movie*. A surprise villain (not giving away who it is) would be interesting if he hadn't been done so many times before in other recent superhero movies. While there are more faults in the movie, none of them are as big as this fault is. Despite any other, faults boring characters (again not including the main two who are very likable) is easily the worst of them. There is also the problem that the movie is longer than it needs to be and can sometimes feel padded out. The humor is very hit and miss, however even when it hits it gets more of a chuckle than a real laugh.
While this movie has its faults (including one huge one), it is still a good movie. And hopefully this means that the DC live action films will continue to get better, and we will never see more DC films of the poor quality of Batman VS. Superman and Suicide Squad again. Justice League is coming let us keep our fingers crossed. Wonder Woman is a good sign things could be getting better. Just don't bring back the Batman VS. Superman version of Lex Luther ever, please Warner Brothers.
Thursday, June 1, 2017
Silent Film of the Month: Snow White (1916)
Run Time: 63 minutes. Studio: Famous Players/Paramount. Director: J. Searle Dawley. Writer: Winthrop Ames. Based on a play by Winthrop Ames. and a book by The Brothers Grimm. Producer: H. Lyman Broening. Main Cast: Marguerite Clark, Dorothy G. Cumming, Creighton Hale, Lionel Braham, Alice Washburn. Cinematographer: H. Lyman Broening.
Anyone who reads my blogs knows that I am a huge Disney fan. Because of this often times when a classic fairy tale is brought up it is the Disney version that first comes to my mind. However these stories existed long before Walt touched them and they even had film adaptions before then. Some of these film adaptions even were huge influences on the Disney movies. One of the most clear example of this is the 1916 silent version of Snow White. Now some of my fellow Disney buffs may have heard of this movie. Walt Disney had in fact seen it as a teenager and legend goes that it inspired him to make his own film version of the classic fairy tale. Still this movie has more than that great story behind it. It is also a delightful film in its own right.
Though this film was obviously inspired by the Brothers Grimm's classic story, it had an even more direct and recent piece of source material. This was a 1912 play based off of the story. That play was written by Winthrop Ames, and starred Marguerite Clark, who also were the writer and star of this film adaption. So in many ways the point of this movie was simply to bring that stage play to the screen. Considering the differences between the stage and the silent cinema there naturally needed to be some changes made. The most obvious of these was to eliminate song numbers and very dialogue heavy scenes. However interestingly more scenes were added starring the Huntsman. These scenes revolved around him being locked in the tower as a prisoner. Also in adapting it for film, director J. Searle Dawley employed some more cinematic techniques. For instance in this version of the story the Witch (a separate character from the Queen) wants Snow White's heart to help with a potion to get herself her. When she is given a pig's heart instead her head grows pig's tails instead of hair. On stage the actress simply ducked off stage real quick and put on a head cap. Here the pig's tails appear to slowly fade in on her head, accomplished by a dissolve shot (Searle Dawley later remembered doing this on a set with crowded extras in 1916 made this a very difficult technical challenge).
The film interestingly begins with a brief prologue involving Santa Claus leaving a bunch of dolls at a little girl's house. These dolls become real people and then our story really begins. A Queen wants a beautiful child and gets one in Snow White (played by Marguerite Clark). However when this Queen passes away, the king remarries. The new Queen (played by Dorothy Cummings) is an evil and jealous woman who hates Snow White. When the King dies there is no one to protect Snow White from this evil woman. Snow White now has to work in rags as a maid, but this isn't all that is planned for her. The jealous Queen conspires with a witch (played by Alice Washburn) to get rid of Snow White. In return for helping the Queen, the Witch wants Snow White's heart. The Queen hires the huntsman (played by Lionel Braham) to take care of Snow White. However the huntsman can't do it and gives the queen the heart of a pig instead. Snow White hides out at a house of dwarfs, who promise to help her, however they can. The Queen learning that the huntsman has failed her, decides to kill Snow White herself.
What really makes this film work is Marguerite Clark's performance as Snow White. In this era of such stars as Mary Pickford and Lillian Gish, it was common for grown women to play the part of little girls. Though Clark turned 33, the year this film was released, she plays the part so well you completely believe she is about 10 or 12. There is just a great sense of innocence to this performance. This is best shown in the scene with the huntsman. She clings to the huntsman and is simply so excited to be with him. She acts like the two are going to play games with each other. When the huntsman says what they are really out there for she easily assumes that he is joking. In a lesser actress' hands this could have felt very forced but here it comes out naturally. Later when she goes into the dwarfs cottage she not wanting to impose knows that if she only takes small bites from each plate, they can't possibly be mad at her. Clark does that so delicately that it gives that small moment extra charm to it.
However if there is something this film is lacking in, it is a real sense of danger. While the Disney film wasn't intended just for kids (in fact in Britain, it got an adults only rating because of how scary the witch is), the play this movie was based on and even to a certain extant this movie itself was aimed primarily at children. Because of this the villains don't feel as threating as the Queen in the Disney version (being aimed mostly at adults) could. While this silent film is quite good, this does result in the Disney movie being even better.
While Walt Disney's film is easily the superior version, this little movie has such a sweet and simple charm to it will still delight today's modern audiences.
Resources Used
http://www.jbkaufman.com/movie-of-the-month/snow-white-1916
The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney by Michael Barrier