The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

Star Rating- 2
Length of Film- 93 minutes
Director- Rupert Julian, Lon Chaney
Cast- Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Gibson Gowland, John St. Polis, & Snitz Edwards
Additional Information- Silent film, Black and white film with 2 strip technicolor






If anyone has seen Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, you'll appreciate how accurate Mr. Webber was to this 1925 film. During the masked ball, where The phantom shows up dressed as Edgar Allan Poe's Red death, you will see a brief technicolor sequence.

It has the chandelier dropping, and the official unmasking. Yet, in this film, the phantom is not deformed on one side of his face, it's his whole face. It's not terrifying. They made the reveal very "dramatic", even though it really wasn't.

I grew up watching horror movies where the faces scared the buh-jesus out of me.

The Exorcist (1973)

AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! So scary. Not...

The thing that peeved me the most about this movie was when they were in the Phantom's lair, he'd kidnapped Christine, and her lover was trying to rescue her. The phantom had the trip alarm and the noise doesn't match the statuesque bird moving his mouth.

I won't lie, this wasn't an easy movie to watch, it being in black and white and it being a silent film, but the scenery was impressive, and the technicolor scene. If I was in the theater in 1925 and I saw the masquerade scene, I would've been blown away.  

King Kong (1933)

retrieved from netflix.com


 

Star Rating- 4
Length of Film- 100 minutes
Director- Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack
Cast- Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot, Frank Reicher, Sam Hardy, Noble Johnson, Steve Clemente, & James Flavin












When I was watching this film, I decided to text my dad to tell him what I was watching and also get some feedback from him. This was our conversation...

L- Watching King Kong (1933). Peter Jackson did an amazing job with the remake. It's practically the same. It's unrealistic to see the brontosaurus (plant eater) attacking the men. You can tell there's a screen anytime the actors are in the same shot as Kong.

L- Holy shit! Kong just broke the t-rex's jaw! That was pretty intense! I couldn't imagine what the audience thought, 80 years ago.

D- The 1933 King Kong is a great movie. Kind of corny, but how they did it was fascinating. I guess they had scenes of him eating people but they had to cut it out. Really surprised how sexual Fay Wray was with Kong.

L- Yes...she wasn't wearing much for the time period.

D- True, that time period of movie was very provocative. Which really surprises me.

"Censors took scissors to several scenes, including one in which Kong removes some of Wray's clothes, tickles her, then sniffs his finger". -The Greatest Movies Ever

Going along with my texts I sent my father, I enjoyed this movie. It was suspenseful and it shocked me! There were parts that were corny, but for it being 1933, the "special effects" were off the charts!

"Willis O'Brien a pioneer in the use of stop-motion photography, used an 18 inch model of King Kong covered in rabbit fur. The miniature was shot frame by frame, repositioned each time, then edited together as animation. O'Brien then perfected rear-projection techniques that used animation and actual footage of Fay Wray to make them appear to be in the same shot". -The Greatest Movies Ever

Everything about this film was impressive. I could not believe how much they were able to accomplish for 1933. If you can get over the screen that separates the actors from Kong in a few scenes, you're watching a gem of a movie.

This movies DESERVES to be on the list and it DESERVES to be a part of Entertainment Weekly's Top 100 list and The Ultimate Ranked List of the 101 Best films of all time! (Gail Kinn & Jim Piazza)


" 'Twas beauty killed the beast."

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Star Rating- 2
Length of Film- 101 minutes
Director- John Huston
Cast- Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre, Barton MacLane, Lee Patrick, Sydney Greenstreet, Ward Bond, Jerome Cowan, Elisha Cook Jr., James Burke, Murray Alper, & John Hamilton
Oscar Nomination- Hal B. Walls (Best Picture), John Huston (Screenplay), Sydney Greenstreet ( Actor in Support Role)


 


This is going to be a quick post. This was not a good movie. It was all very...beige. It's not because it was a black and white film, but Bogart and Astor were a snooze. There was NO excitement.

In my opinion, this movie shouldn't be on the list, but I understand WHY it is on the list of 1,001 movies. It was the FIRST "Film Noir" film and it was the first mystery film where the dame was the murderer. It started a new generation.

Here are some fun facts of film courtesy of "The Greatest Movies Ever" book by Gail Kinn & Jim Piazza

*More than once, Spade makes derogatory references to Wilmer's presumed homosexuality (because he carried a perfumed hand kerchief). In fact, he refers to Wilmer as a gunsel, a term that the censors assumed was a slang reference to a gunman. Gunsel is actually a vulgar Yiddish term for homosexual.

*Two "Maltese Falcons" we're used in the film. The first one is on display in the movie museum at Warner Bros. Studios, it's tail feathers dented from when Bogart dropped it. 

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Retrieved from Netflix.com

Star Rating- 3
Length of Film- 80 minutes
Director- Don Siegel
Cast- Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates, King Donovan, Carolyn Jones, Jean Willies, Ralph Dumke,  Virginia Christine, Tom Fadden, Kenneth Patterson, Guy Way, Eileen Stevens, Beatrice Maude, Jean Andren, & Bobby Clark







Before you sit down and watch this movie, you have to know a little background of what was going on in the 1950's, and THEN you'd understand why this movie is on this list.

        "A number of cutural commentators have remarked on the  "paranoid style" of most
         American sci-fi movies of the 1950's when the "Red Scare" intensified the Cold War  
         atmosphere between the United States and the Soviet Union...The movie was
         produced during an era when many Americans were seriously discussing the
           possibility of building back yard bomb shelters to "protect" themselves from an
         expected nuclear attack by the Soviet Union." -Understanding Movies by Louis
         Giannetti

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is set in a small, quaint town where everything is perfect and in place. Dr. Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) was called to come home from a medical convention because he had patience lining up at his door, frantic to see the doctor. As soon as he got home, no one was desperate to see him; they were all normal. A couple of individuals complained, very emotionally that their loved one wasn't them. They looked, and acted like them, but weren't them.

Blah, blah, blah... pods were found, and they put the puzzle pieces together that the transformation is complete when they fall asleep.

The picture up above is a photo of the pod, and yes...they did use dish soap to make the bubbles. It was the 50's...meh. Dr. Bennell and his egirlfriend, Becky Driscoll (Dana Wynter) took medication to keep them awake, and all the zombie in the town went after them. The last part of the movie, our lead characters were running...running to get away and to survive.

The ending is not relaxing nor does it resolve anything. They left the movie completely open so the audience had the fear that it could happen, and that it could spread to where they live. And THAT is why this movie is on the list and THAT's why it's a classic. It fed into the fear of what was going on that decade. Quite brillant.  

Trainspotting (1996)

Star Rating- 3 1/2
Length of Film- 94 minutes
Director- Danny Boyle
Cast- Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle, Kelly Macdonald, Peter Mullan, James Cosmo, Eileen Nicholas, Susan Vidler, Pauline Lynch, Shirley Henderson, Stuart McQuarrie, Irvine Welsh, & Dale Winton
Oscar Nominations- John Hodge (screenplay)


Oh boy... I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I pushed play, but I was surprised, in a good way. Renton (Ewan McGregor) is a drug addict, who did squat with his life. After having his last hit, he prepares to detox by himself: with 3 buckets. For piss, shit, and puke. 

He goes to a known drug dealer and takes some opium rectal suppositories. You will see him reach in his pants and insert them into his rectum. The next part...is not for the weak of stomach. He HAS to go to the bathroom, and ends up losing the suppositories, so he sticks his hand in the toilet YUCK!!! Then his head...then his upper body...

This movie does a great job portraying the mind of a heroin addict. We swim in the toilet searching for suppositories, we see a dead baby crawling on the ceiling then turning his head around in a very exorcist way, newly arrested friend is taunting Renton with ball and chains on his ankle. 

This movie is over all fucked up, but memorable and escapes you to this world...their drug addicted world. It's one of those movies that you'll remember for years to come. I believe that Trainspotting inspired 1999's Requiem for a Dream.  Watch the movie and make up your opinion. Happy watching :o)

A Hard Day's Night (1964)

Star Rating- 2
Length of  Film- 87 minutes
Cast- John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Wilfrid Brambell,Norman Rossington, John Junkin, Victor Spinetti, Anna Quayle, Deryck Guyler, Richard Vernon, Edward Malin, Robin Ray, Lionel Blair, & Alison Seebohm
Oscar Nomination- Alun Owen (screenplay), George Martin (music)








A Hard Day's Life takes a day in the life of a hugely successful teen group sensation...The Beatles. They're hounded by screaming fans in hot pursuit, uptight execs, and Paul's "alleged" granddad, who delights in stirring the pot. Granddad singes out Ringo as the weak line and briefly convinces him to leave his pal and venture into the world.

Here's a direct quote from Ringo about his scene where he walks alone by a canal, "The scene I got all the credit for was the walking by the canal with the camera- the lonely guy scene. That came about because I came to work, very unprofessionally, straight from a nightclub. And was a little hungover to say the least, you know. I was just so out of it so they said, "Let's do anything". So my version of it was, 'Just let me walk around and film me'. And why I look so cold and dejected is because I felt like shit. So no acting going on there."- The Greatest Movies Ever: The Ultimate Ranked List of the 101 Best Films of all time! by Gail Kinn & Jim  Piazza

The boys finally make it onto the set of a TV program in the nick of time and launch powerfully into a short concert of hits.

In the film, they perform the following songs:

"A Hard Day's Night"

"I Should Have Known Better"

"I Wanna Be Your Man" (sample)

"Don't Bother Me"(sample)

"All My Loving" (sample)

"If I Fell"

"Can't Buy Me Love"

"And I Love Her"

"I'm Happy Just to Dance with You"

"This Boy"

"Tell Me Why"

"She Loves You"

I'm a fan of The Beatles music, but I just did not enjoy the film. I wasn't sure if they were acting or if it was scripted. I felt like the film was depicted "The Beatles" but the bandmembers were acting like The Beatles, rather than themselves. If I was a teenage girl in the 60's, I would have loved the film, but I really didn't enjoy what I was watching.

Watch the movie yourself, and make your own opinion :o)

Stranger on a Train (1951)

Star Rating- 4

Length of Film- 101 minutes
Director- Alfred Hitchcock
Cast- Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker, Leo G. Carroll, Patricia Hitchcock, Kasey Rogers, Marion Lorne, Jonathan Hale, Howard St. John, John Brown, Norma Varden, & Robert Gist
Oscar Nomination- Robert Burks (photography) 






Strangers on a Train, what a great plot line created by novelist Patricia Highsmith!  Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker) met tennis player and socialite Guy Haines on the train. He recognized Guy from the newspaper, and immediately started chatting with him. The space between Bruno and Guy was very close.

 It wasn't until I opened up my book "1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" did I find out that Bruno had some homosexual tendencies  In fact, Hitchcock and Robert Walker worked out an elaborate series of gestures and physical appearance to suggest the homosexuality and seductiveness of Bruno's character while bypassing censor objections.

Bruno brought up the fact that he hated his controlling dad, and knowing that Guy was married but wanted a relationship with Anne Morton, a senator's daughter. Bruno devised a perfect plan that both of the men murder the person that they want gone. Especially since there's no ties between the individuals, there's no way to track the connection between them. Bruno was dead serious...

Miriam Haines (Laura Elliott) refused to divorce Guy, and after their fight, she went to the fair with 2 men. I mean...come on, can we say whore?! That night, Bruno follows Mrs. Haines and she is adoring the attention of him. I mean, who wouldn't?! There are 3 pairs of men's eyes on her. 

I'm always impressed watch Hitchcock movies with his choice of camera angles. The murder of Miriam is simple strangling, but Hitchcock has Miriam's glasses mirror back the reflection of the murder. It reminds me of Spellbound. http://moviereviewbylindsey.blogspot.com/2012/11/spellbound-1945.html

Probably the most memorable moment of the film is the climax where Bruno goes after Guy because he has not held up his part of the deal, and murdered his father. A fellow blogspotter actually watched this movie for a film class, and had the most interesting analysis of this scene-tying in the sexuality of these two characters. Here's a direct quote from his site: 

"The mise-en-scene in the "Carousel scene," was carefully constructed and structured to depict the explosion of the sexual tension that had been gradually developing between Bruno and Guy throughout the movie. The motion of the carousel moving slowly in the beginning and gradually getting faster as it moves out of control shows how at first Bruno savours the thrill of Guy chasing him and toys with Guy before getting more serious with him. Then, in the beginning of the scene, Bruno can be seen still running away from Guy whilst the carousel starts getting out of control. As he is on the carousel, he seats on one of the horses. In a sexual context, this symbolizes that Bruno has the power in the relationship and is more dominant over Guy. In other words, Bruno could be considered to be the "top," in a homosexual sense. After that, Guy comes and punches him and the two break out into violence and start fighting and struggling with each other. The struggle can be seen as a struggle of power in the relationship or a kind of foreplay of going back and forth between Bruno and Guy." -http://insight-to-film101.blogspot.com/2011/07/et-16-strangers-on-train-carousel.html

The shot of the carousel operator crawling under the ride to shut it off when it spins out of control did not employ special effects other than speeding up the film slightly. The man actually crawled under the spinning carousel. Hitchcock swore he would never do anything like that again. Here’s what Hitchcock actually said about the scene, taken from an interview with film historian Peter Bogdanovich, which appears as a commentary on the DVD:

AH: The most dangerous thing I ever did in that picture, when the little man crawled underneath. That was actual.

PB: That was for real? How did you get the shot?


AH: I had a camera shooting underneath the merry-go-round – the real one – and my hands sweat now, when I think of it.

This movie sucked me in, it was so intense, that I was clenching to my blanket that was on the couch next to me. The carousel horses hooves were inches away from hitting Guy's face. There was a young boy that was riding alone, who got in the crossfire between the two men and almost flung off the carousel. Of course, the child was fine, but speeding tempo of the carousel, the punches being thrown between the two main characters, I got wrapped up in the movie and gasped out loud. 

I've thoroughly enjoyed researching about this movie AFTER I watched it. The carousel scene was done so well, I wanted to know more about how it was accomplished, that's when I found out that there was no special effects when the actor was crawling under the carousel. The world of internet is wonderful! It has helped flourish my curiosity of films. AND... I gave this a 4 rating. I rarely EVER give this out, but the movie was a thrill, it was a joy to watch. 

Out of the 18 Alfred Hitchcock movies that have made the "1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" book, I have viewed 10 of them, and I rated them all high. This movie, being one of them. If you liked this movie, I recommend:
* Rebecca (1940)
*Spellbound (1945)


Happy watching!!!