Monthly Archives: September 2010
Animal Farm (1954, CIA)
Animal Farm (1954) dir. John Halas, Joy Batchelor “And after all, your pigs are far more intelligent than the other animals, and therefore the best qualified to run the farm — in fact, there couldn’t have been an Animal Farm … Continue reading
Greed: Stroheim’s $64,000 Question
Even at only 4 hours, the film feels like a Russian novel. It gives the lives of American plebs the Dostoevskian treatment. The Death Valley finale truly feels like the culmination of a lifetime. Continue reading
Paisan
Paisan (1946) dir. Roberto Rossellini Rossellini’s realism isn’t any less contrived or manipulative than classical Hollywood styles. ’Simplicity,’ rather than ‘realism’ might be a more accurate word in this sense. The film still lies, ’24 frames a second.’ But its … Continue reading
The Great Dictator: Remembering Hitler Properly
The Apotheosis of Adolf was a project started by the Nazis and continued in the popular imagination by casting him as a malevolent deity. Hitler’s plans for Germany didn’t work out, but his egotistical desire to become a Wagnerian god has.
The real Nazi party was a disorganized mess, and Hitler only achieved the military success he did through luck rather than some sort of genius. Yet popular historiography simply perpetuates the self-glorifying mythos he created. Continue reading
The Magnificent Ambersons
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) dir. Orson Welles The Magnificent Ambersons is the Ken Griffey Jr. of film. A first-ballot Hall of Famer without question, but oh, what might have been… The story is pretty well known. Welles thought he had … Continue reading
Gertrud
Gertrud is fully committed to ideal love. She is immature, she is narcissistic, she is genuine. She’s willing to sacrifice any and all happiness on the altar of poetic romance.
Some authors reward this self-indulgent martyrdom with a happy ending just before the credits roll; others reward it even more with a grand suicide, replete with symbolism and pathos.
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Metropolis: A Proto-Fascist Anti-Utopia
Metropolis is director Fritz Lang’s most famous work. The 1927 German silent classic is renowned for its epic German Expressionist style and its sweeping influence on the science-fiction genre. Here, it is the first entry in 45.1 Dystopias, and I’ll … Continue reading
45.1 Essential Dystopias
Each week I’ll offer a new post on each of the 45.1 dystopian films listed. It’ll include a short essay, video, pictures, and links to better short essays. Notes on the genre in general and explanations of my compilation follows … Continue reading
