Something New is essentially a feature length commercial and this would make it seem like a film that could easily be dismissed. Yet with a tongue planted firmly in its cheek and some really good action sequences, this proves to be a real delight and is simply too fun to be dismissed so easily.
To acknowledge the silliness of the plot this film has a very clever framing device. The movie begins with our main character (Nell Shipman) sitting a typewriter trying to come up with a new story and only getting frustrated as she can't think of anything. She quotes Soloman by saying "There is nothing new under the sun," and then takes the paper out of the typewriter and tears it up. Looking around her she sees a cowboy on his horse talking to a man driving a Maxwell car. Suddenly she gets an idea and begins writing a western where the heroes save the day in a Maxwell car, inserting herself as the main character of said story. This is the perfect framing device. It lets us know that the story we are about to watch is to be taken in the spirit of good fun without making it into an all-out parody. Because of this before the story properly starts, the mood of the film is already perfectly set up.
This movie perfectly lives up to the promises that are given by this opening. This film takes what was already a very standard movie plot by this time and gives a fun little twist to it. In fact, how familiar the story is works as part of what makes this movie such a delight to watch. This movie in fact wants you to be familiar with this type of story and intends to be a fun look as how this sort of story would look with just a little twist. Though the film rarely makes fun of its story, it has a lot of fun with it. The movie moves by at a fast pace and has all the action and sense of adventure you could hope for from a story like this. There was not one second watching this film that I ever found myself anything less than completely and utterly entertained.
It is believed that Shipman was asked to make a film about the new Maxwell car with the company excepting her to make a short little advertisement film about it. Instead she made a feature length western.
Joe Walker, this movie's cinematographer would go on to become a very well-respected cinematographer in the movie industry. He is probably best known for his work with director Frank Capra. His work with Capra includes such beloved films as American Madness (1932), It Happened One Night (1934), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Lost Horizon (1937), You Can't Take It with You (1938) and It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). Other beloved movies he worked on include The Awful Truth (1937), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), Penny Serenade (1941), Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) and A Night to Remember (1943). Even if Something New doesn't have the prestige of those other films, Walker's cinematography does certainly add a lot to this movie. This even includes some wonderful looking location shooting in the Mojave Desert.
This was the first film made for Nell Shipman's own production company. Before this movie she had success starring, writing and directing some very popular three-reel short films including God's Country and the Woman (1916) and Back to God's Country (1919). These were what was known as wilderness films. They featured exotic locations, wild animals (tamed by Shipman herself) and even some sex (including nude scenes with Shipman). Her production company would only last into the mid 1920's. However she would continue writing for movies even into the sound era. Thid even included the Cary Grant and Myrna Loy film, Wings in the Dark (1935). She would retire in the 1930's and live on a ranch where she looked after the animals she had tamed for her movies.
For anyone interested this movie can be found on YouTube.
Resources Used
http://www.jbkaufman.com/movie-of-the-month/something-new-1920
https://prod-www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/335334/something-new#articles-reviews?articleId=92491
https://www.imdb.com/?ref_=nv_home
No comments:
Post a Comment