#2,957. And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2003) - 2000s Made for Television

 

“The improbability of events depicted in this film is the surest indication that they actually did occur”.

In January of 1914, Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa, who was battling the forces of President Victoriano Huerta, announced that he was willing to work with any American film company that would produce a movie about his cause.

Needing money to fund his revolution, and hoping to negate the bad press he had been receiving from the news outlets run by William Randolph Hearst, Villa met with Frank N. Thayer of the Mutual Film Studio, which was run by Harry E. Aitkin and legendary director D.W. Griffith.

From the partnership between Villa and Mutual, the full-length movie The Life of General Villa was born. Combining staged scenes (directed by Christy Cabanne and starring Raoul Walsh as a young Villa) and footage of actual battles between Villa’s forces and those of the Government, The Life of General Villa premiered in New York City in May of 1914, and turned the tide of public opinion in Villa’s favor.

Directed by Bruce Beresford and written by Larry Gelbart (who also executive produced), the 2003 HBO film And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself is a spirited telling of this very unusual story, and is one of the best films about the silent movie industry that I’ve ever seen.

As And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself kicks off, Aitkin (played by Jim Broadbent) and Griffith (Colm Feore) have decided to send Aitkin’s assistant (and nephew) Frank Thayer (Eion Bailey) to Mexico to meet with the legendary Pancho Villa (Antonio Banderas). After paying Villa $25,000 in gold and promising him 20% of the profits, Thayer and his crew set to work filming a battle the very next day.

Unfortunately, this initial footage, which is turned into a short film, is murky and fails to make an impact. When Villa also runs into some trouble for executing a British landowner (who accused Villa of stealing his cattle), another film project is put into motion, a full-length drama / documentary titled The Life of General Villa.

It’s everyone’s hope that this new film will be a success, but will Villa and Thayer survive long enough to finish both the movie and the revolution?

The cast is impressive. Joining those mentioned above, Michael McKean plays director Christy Cabanne and Kyle Chandler is Raoul Walsh, both of whom traveled to Mexico with actress Teddy Sampson (Alexa Davalos) to shoot the dramatized moments of Villa’s early life. Also strong (and at times damn funny) in support is Alan Arkin as Sam Dreben, a Jewish American mercenary hired by Villa to help his cause; and Matt Day appears in a few scenes as John Reed, the journalist whose socialist leanings formed the basis of Warren Beatty’s award-winning movie Reds. As the Mutual executives, Broadbent and Feore are memorable, as is Bailey, whose Thayer develops a genuine friendship with Villa.

That said, And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself is, without a doubt, the Antonio Banderas show! Delivering what might be his greatest performance, Banderas is boisterous, amusing, and sometimes frightening as Villa, who, despite his out-of-control ego, truly wants to free his people from government tyranny, a government supported, in large part, by wealthy Americans (Villa reveals at one point that the real source of William Randolph Hearst’s animosity towards him is that the millionaire publisher owns some eight million acres of Mexico, a country rich in oil).

Under director Beresford’s keen eye, And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself moves at a brisk pace, with battle sequences that are exciting and bloody (the sight of Thayer and his team capturing footage of the action while simultaneously putting themselves in harm’s way is nerve-racking and funny at the same time). Yet the film’s most appealing aspect is not only that it’s cast of characters is based on real people (even Alan Arkin’s Dreben), but also real events. According to writer Larry Gelbart, a good deal of the film’s scenes actually happened; an early moment, where Villa confronts a Catholic priest who impregnated a teenage girl, is something, per Gelbart in his DVD commentary, Villa did.

Along with being a smooth, entertaining western / war film, And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself also functions as an informative biopic of a famous military leader, and an expose of the earliest days of the motion picture industry. The fact that it approaches greatness on all counts is a true marvel.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10

#2,953. This is Cinerama (1952) - Documentaries About Film

 

The threat of television loomed heavy over the motion picture industry in the early 1950s, and Hollywood needed to up the ante to compete with the more convenient home-based medium.

It was then that Cinerama was born.

Invented by film pioneer Fred Waller, Cinerama utilized images shot by three individual cameras, operating in unison by way of a single shutter, that, when projected, offered viewers a widescreen experience like no other, a complete “field of vision” presentation beamed onto a 146-degree screen that wrapped around the theater. Combined with another new innovation, stereophonic sound, the Cinerama process was unlike anything seen before, and the movie that introduced it to the world was the 1952 documentary This Is Cinerama.

Produced and co-directed by Merian C. Cooper, the mastermind behind another revolutionary motion picture, 1933’s King Kong, This is Cinerama opens with a black and white sequence, presented in the standard aspect ratio, during which narrator Lowell Thomas offers a rundown of the history of moving images, from the attempts by prehistoric man and ancient Egyptians to show pictures in motion to the days of early animation, Thomas Edison, and The Great Train Robbery.

Once this segment is over, Lowell, staring straight ahead, bellows “Ladies and gentlemen, this is Cinerama”, at which point the screen expands, the picture changes from black and white to color, and the viewer is treated, in full stereo sound, to a ride on a rollercoaster (the cameras were attached to the front of the Atom Smasher coaster in New York’s Rockaway Playland).

I can only imagine how that first audience reacted to this initial sequence, but to paraphrase Al Jolson in 1927’s The Jazz Singer, they ain’t seen nothing yet!

This is Cinerama follows it up with a variety of amazing segments, shot in Venice (including a Gondola ride), Scotland (The Rally of the Clans at Edinburgh Castle), Vienna (featuring an outdoor performance by the Vienna Boys Choir), Spain (where we witness a bull fight in a packed arena), and Milan (one of the film’s most impressive sequences, the triumphal scene from the opera Aida, staged at the La Scala Opera House).

Then, after a brief intermission and a demonstration (audio only) of Stereophonic sound, This is Cinerama focuses on a more “American” experience, with a half-hour water show at Florida’s Cypress Gardens followed by aerial images (shot from a B-25 bomber) of some of the country’s more familiar landscapes, including Manhattan, Washington D.C., Chicago, the Mississippi River, and the Grand Canyon. Even today, in this age of high-tech entertainment, all of the film’s sequences are breathtaking.

The three-camera process as presented in This is Cinerama would be featured in a handful of movies over the next 10 years, mostly documentaries (Search for Paradise in 1957, South Seas Adventures in 1958), but also in two narrative films, both released in 1962: The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm and the amazing How the West Was Won. It was during the making of How the West Was Won that the Cinerama corporation realized it could create a similar (though not quite as grand) widescreen 70mm experience using a single camera, as opposed to the more expensive three-camera set-up. This new technique, renamed Ultra Panavision 70, would become the standard for Cinerama in the years to come, and be utilized in such movies as It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Hallelujah Trail, and, most recently, Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight. Still, even with its short life span, This is Cinerama proved there was something special about that three-camera set-up. Watching it on Blu-Ray, projected onto my high-definition television, gave me a taste of just how cutting-edge this process was at the time, yet I can’t help but envy those lucky patrons who saw the movie in 1952 on that 146-degree screen.

I was enthralled, impressed, and entertained, but they were witnesses to history in the making.
Rating: 9 out of 10

#2,899. Terror Firmer (1999) - Troma Triple Feature

 

Inspired (ever so loosely) by the Lloyd Kaufman / James Gunn book “All I Need to Know About Filmmaking I Learned from The Toxic Avenger”, 1999’s Terror Firmer is Troma’s attempt to out-do Troma, making as disgusting, as slimy, as sexy, and as hilarious a film as the studio ever produced.

Trouble is brewing on the set of Troma’s newest movie, helmed by blind director Larry Benjamin (played by Kaufman himself). First, lead actress Christine (Debbie Rochon) is sleeping with every guy she gets her hands on, right under the nose of her boyfriend, crew member DJ (Mario Diaz). Then, production assistant Jennifer (Alyce LaTourelle) finds herself juggling two guys who are smitten with her: boom-mic operator Casey (Will Keenan) and special effects artist Jerry (Trent Haaga).

On top of that, a maniacal killer in a dress is systematically - and quite messily - murdering the members of Benjamin’s crew. Can the police track down the psychopath? More importantly, will this next Troma “masterpiece” be completed on time?

Terror Firmer doesn’t waste a single moment, opening with the mysterious killer first tearing a guy’s leg off and beating him to death with it, then attacking a pregnant woman, ripping the unborn fetus from her body.

Sounds pretty intense, right? Well, would you believe these are two of the film’s subtler moments?

Throughout its 114 minutes, Terror Firmer throws everything at us: piss, shit, snot, farts, blood, dismemberments, exploding heads, masturbation, nudity and sex. Even Toxie gets laid at one point!

As for the humor, it’s mostly broad and aims very, very low (no surprise there), but I have to admit I laughed quite a bit throughout the movie. Especially funny were the Seinfeld spoof (complete with a laugh track), when Casey and Jennifer go to a café for dinner; and the “closed set” that is ordered when Jennifer and Jerry, standing in for the actors, have to do a sex scene. I also cracked up at the shameless commercial for Troma videos and DVDs, which was inserted into a random scene.

A few celebrities pop up in cameos, including Ron Jeremy as Casey’s dad; Lemmy from Motorhead as a TV interviewer; and Tiffany Shepis as a witness to one of the killings. Even Lloyd Kaufman’s real-life daughter Charlotte plays a small role (Larry Benjamin’s mute daughter). As for the violence, it’s very Troma-like, meaning it is way over the top. But that only adds to the fun.

Terror Firmer was designed to be an exaggerated account of what goes on behind-the-scenes of a Troma production. But aside from the killings, I have a feeling it isn’t as “exaggerated” as Kaufman and company would have us believe.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10

#2,853. Peeping Tom (1960) - The Films of Michael Powell

 

Before I launch into my review of Peeping Tom, I want to take a moment to discuss proto-slashers. In a nutshell, proto-slashers are movies that predate the slasher films of the late ‘70s and ‘80s - Halloween, Friday the 13th, My Bloody Valentine, etc - that feature elements which would eventually become synonymous with the slasher subgenre.

In fact, two of the finest proto-slashers ever produced were released in 1960: Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom. Both are considered spiritual ancestors of the slasher film, with many of the tropes that would come to define that particular subgenre, yet each informs the slashers that followed in a very different way.

Mark (Carl Boehm) is a troubled young man. Subjected as a boy to experiments conducted by his scientist father, who was studying how fear affects children, Mark is himself now fascinated with fear, to the point that it has turned him into a killer.

And his weapon of choice is a movie camera! A cameraman employed by a London-based studio specializing in low-budget films, Mark turns his camera (a gift from his father) on his targets, filming them in what would prove to be the final moments of their lives, then heading home to develop the film and watch it back. His secondary job – shooting risqué photos of scantily-clad girls for the owner of a local news agency – provides him with potential victims.

Mark’s life takes an unexpected turn, however, when he meets and falls in love with Helen (Anna Massey), a tenant who lives on the first floor of his building (Mark is the landlord, actually, though he usually keeps to himself). His newfound feelings for Helen inspire Mark to seek treatment for his “condition”, but can he cure himself before the police catch up with him?

Directed by the great Michael Powell (Black Narcissus, Age of Consent), Peeping Tom is as much an exercise in voyeurism as Hitchcock’s Rear Window; Mark (played superbly by Carl Boehm) uses his beloved camera to shoot and capture for posterity the murders he commits (his tripod is equipped with a knife, which he uses to stab his female victims in the neck, all as his camera is rolling). More than the actual killing, he gets enjoyment out of watching the murders on film (it’s in this particular fascination that the movie gets its title; Mark is a Peeping Tom after the fact).

In addition to its similarities with Rear Window, Peeping Tom has quite a bit in common with another Hitchcock film, released the very same year: Psycho. Besides being proto-slashers, both feature main characters who have been damaged by their parents; Mark’s father is the cause of his disorder, while Norman Bates, played by Anthony Perkins, has some definite mommy issues. What’s more, we like both Mark and Norman; they are shy and socially awkward, yet we connect with them on an emotional level, and understand, even pity, the predicament they find themselves in.

Yet it’s in this very aspect that the two films also differ from one another. We like Psycho’s Norman Bates before we know what he is; there is a major reveal at the end of the movie that casts Norman in an entirely new light (and even though Psycho is over 60 years old, I won’t spoil it by saying anything more about the ending). We like Norman up to the point of that reveal.

In Peeping Tom, we know what Mark is in the first 10 minutes. The opening scene features the murder of a prostitute (Brenda Bruce), and though it was shot in POV (another slasher trope), the very next scene has Mark sitting in his apartment, watching a film of the murder we just witnessed. Right off the bat, we realize Mark is the killer, and yet we like him anyway! Even as the film progresses, and Mark continues to stalk and murder innocent girls, we find ourselves hoping he can get help and live happily ever after.

In this way, Peeping Tom is more of a proto-slasher than Psycho. In the ‘80s, audiences went to see the Halloween and Friday the 13th films not to root for the final girl, but to see the creative ways in which Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees would finish off their victims. Viewers connected with the killers, not the prey, much like we connect with Mark in Peeping Tom.

The fact that it is also a masterpiece, made by an immensely talented filmmaker at the top of his game, puts Peeping Tom on a level that few movies - slashers and proto-slashers alike - ever reach.
Rating: 10 out of 10

#2,801. Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick (1995) - The Films of William A. Wellman

 

In a late scene from Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick, Bill Wellman Jr., son of the great director William A. Wellman (the subject of this film), tells a story about the final weeks of his father’s life. Diagnosed with leukemia and having refused chemotherapy, William Wellman, realizing he had a short time to live, was resting at home when he turned to his son and said “Damnit Bill, don’t feel sorry for me! I’ve lived the life of a hundred men!”

Having just watched this documentary, I feel that the late Mr. Wellman was selling himself short. A pilot who did battle in the skies over France during World War I and a skilled filmmaker who never let the studios push him around, William Wellman lived the life of 200 men!

Directed by Todd Robinson, Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick is a biopic of award-winning filmmaker William A. Wellman, whose 1928 movie Wings won the first ever Academy Award for Best Picture. Starting with his early days in Brookline, Massachusetts (where he was born in 1896) and touching briefly on his service in France’s Lafayette Flying Corps during World War I, this 1996 documentary is at its best when delving into Wellman’s Hollywood career, during which he directed over 80 motion pictures.

Featuring interviews with noted celebrities like Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Nancy Reagan, Sidney Poitier, and Clint Eastwood (among others), Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick contains clips and behind-the-scenes tales from such classic Wellman films as Wings, The Public Enemy, Beau Geste, and The High and the Mighty while also peppering in stories of the director’s infamous battles with studio executives (rumor has it he once dumped an entire truckload of manure onto a producer’s desk).

An adventurer who never backed down from a fight, William A. Wellman was a force to be reckoned with, and Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick more than does this legendary filmmaker justice.
Rating: 9 out of 10

#2,776. Trophy Heads (2014) - Full Moon Features

 

2014’s Trophy Heads is director Charles Band having a little fun with Full Moon’s storied history. A love letter to the various Scream Queens who helped put the studio on the cinematic map, it is an entertaining - and in a way even an endearing - motion picture, the kind of movie that puts a smile on your face from start to finish.

Obsessed fan Max (Adam Noble Roberts) spends his days watching ‘80s and ‘90s horror films, and laments the fact that his favorite Scream Queens are getting older by the day.

So, with the help of his devoted mother (Maria Olsen), Max sets to work kidnapping these actresses, namely Brinke Stevens, Linnea Quigley, Michelle Bauer, Denise Duff, Jacqueline Lovell, and Darcy DeMoss (all playing themselves), then forcing them to appear in video reenactments of scenes from their most popular movies.

Only this time, the scenes will have a very different ending!

As much a comedy as it is a horror film, Trophy Heads has moments that will make you laugh out loud. When Max finally tracks her down, Linnea Quigley, a born-again Christian, is knocking on doors and asking people if they’ve been “bathed in the blood of Jesus Christ”.

In addition to the Scream Queens reunion, we’re treated to scenes from some of Full Moon’s classic movies, which play on a monitor for each of the actresses to “enjoy” during their incarceration in Max’s basement. Among the titles featured are Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity, Creepozoids, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-A-Rama, and Bloodstone: Subspecies II, which, incidentally, are the very movies the actresses are forced to “reinterpret”, with Max serving as both their co-star and director.

Everyone seemed to be having a great time throughout Trophy Heads, and that went a long way in making it so much fun.
Rating: 8 out of 10

#2,762. Censor (2021) - 2021 Horror Movies

 

Almost 40 years after the fact, the UK’s Video Nasties campaign of the ‘80s, when specific movies on video were singled out and even prohibited for their violent content, still doesn’t sit well with horror fans. That’s because the genre was the movement’s primary target; with moral crusaders like Mary Whitehouse leading the way, titles such as Blood Feast, The Evil Dead, and Zombie were deemed far too gory for home consumption, and any video rental store offering said films opened themselves up to prosecution.

Acting as watchdogs, the censors working for the BBFC (British Board of Classification) decided whether or not a film could be made available to the public. Some movies were passed with cuts, others were deemed unacceptable and banned. Set during the height of the Video Nasties craze, Censor stars Niahm Algar as Enid, one of several censors working for the BBFC. Enid takes her job very seriously, and is determined to prevent violent horror films such as Nightmare and I Spit on Your Grave from falling into the hands of the nation’s impressionable youth.

But Enid has a secret from her past that continues to haunt her; years earlier, her younger sister Nina (played in flashbacks by Amelie Child Villiers) disappeared without a trace, and Enid believes she was personally responsible for this tragedy (the two sisters were playing together when Nina vanished).

Enid’s already fragile mental state takes a turn for the worse when she reviews the newest horror movie from producer Doug Smart (Michael Smiley). Not only does it feature a sequence that seems to mirror Nina’s disappearance, but it also stars an actress named Alice Lee (Sophia La Porta), who Enid believes might actually be her long-lost sister!

One of the strengths of writer / director Prano Bailey-Bond’s Censor is that it doesn’t vilify the BBFC or its employees, treating them instead as ordinary men and women hired to do what many at the time believed was an important job. There are several scenes in which Enid and her co-workers preview violent movies, and we see the process by which the board makes their decisions. At one point, Enid and fellow censor Sanderson (Nicholas Burns) even get into some hot water for passing the 1974 horror film Deranged; an accused killer supposedly mimicked one of that movie’s grislier scenes. Enid even receives threatening calls from angry citizens, and is hounded by the press, who want to know why she passed such an obviously violent picture.

But while director Bailey-Bond and her co-writer Anthony Fletcher may have stopped short of disparaging the BBFC and the role they played during the Video Nasties era, the two also go to great lengths to prove that real-life violence is caused not by movies, but a sickness of the mind. Played superbly by Niahm Algar, Enid is a tortured soul, a woman who cannot shake the trauma of her past. While the rest of her family has moved on from Nina’s disappearance, Enid cannot, and the never-ending search for her beloved sister will take her down some very dark paths.

The last half-hour of Censor, when Enid is frantically searching for Alice Lee, features violence and bloodshed that is often quite shocking, with a final scene that you will not soon forget. It’s ironic, in a way; had Censor been made in the ‘80s, it would likely have been classified by the BBFC as a Video Nasty!

Which, I suppose, is kind of the point.
Rating: 9 out of 10

#2,729. A Star is Born (1954) - Classic Musicals Triple Feature

 

Rumor has it that when Grace Kelly won the 1954 Academy Award for Best Actress (for The Country Girl), Groucho Marx sent a telegram to Judy Garland – whose nominated performance for A Star Is Born made her the odds-on favorite that year – and said her losing was “the biggest robbery since Brink’s”.

Judy Garland was indeed stellar in this Warner Brothers musical extravaganza, but matching her every step of the way was co-star James Mason, delivering what might be his greatest performance as Norman Maine, an alcoholic movie star who takes a talented young woman under his wing and transforms her into a Hollywood sensation.

When singer Vicki Lester (Garland) helps him through an embarrassing drunken escapade at a benefit concert, renowned actor Norman Maine (Mason) shows his appreciation by offering her some career advice, telling Vicki to resign from her small band and try her luck in the movies. After a few false starts, Vicki finally lands a role in a major Hollywood production, and before long is on her way to stardom.

Over time, Vicki’s and Norman’s relationship develops into a love affair, and they eventually marry. But how will Norman deal with his new wife’s mounting successes while his own career is fizzling out?

Judy Garland is at her absolute best as Vicki Lester, and her musical numbers are impressively staged, especially “Born in a Trunk”, which Vicki performs in her first ever film. Yet as good as Garland’s voice is, she is even better dramatically, perfectly conveying the excitement, adoration, and eventual heartbreak that results from her character loving a man like Norman Maine.

Equally as superb is James Mason. From the moment we first meet his Norman Maine, we know he’s a loose cannon. The opening sequence, where he stumbles backstage at the benefit show, drunkenly accosting showgirls and fighting with reporters, gets the movie off to an uncomfortable yet engaging start. Mason successfully conveys Norman’s varying personalities throughout A Star is Born: the inebriated silliness with a hint of anger simmering just underneath; the self-loathing; and the genuine desire to help Vicki any way he can. Norman even manages to lure studio head Oliver Niles (Charles Bickford) into his bungalow one afternoon and sets it up so that he can hear Vicki sing for the very first time, and on the same day that another actress dropped out of a big-budget musical.

In addition, we see the love that Norman has for Vicki, and how he is willing to sacrifice everything - his career and more - for her. It’s a stunning portrayal by Mason, and it is he and Garland who carry A Star is Born to the lofty heights it ultimately reaches.

With director George Cukor in top form and a script by Moss Hart (which was partly inspired by the original 1937 film directed by William A. Wellman), A Star is Born - along with the strong performances of its two leads – also offers a less-than-glamorous glimpse into what happens behind the scenes in Tinseltown. Like Sunset Blvd before it, this 1954 movie exposed the seedy underbelly of the motion picture industry and, in so doing, went on to become a Hollywood classic in its own right.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10

#2,681. King Kong (2005) - Godzilla / Kong Mini-Marathon

 

It’s hard to argue with the critics who attacked this special effects extravaganza; 2005’s King Kong is, indeed, too loud, too long (the runtime is listed as 180 minutes, with a director’s cut that features and additional 20 minutes), and downright exhausting (when the dinosaur stampede sequence had played itself out, I was ready for a nap).

But writer / director Peter Jackson - guided no doubt by his love for the Merian C. Cooper / Ernest Schoedsack original - pays tribute to 1933’s King Kong while at the same time giving this update a personality all its own.

Jack Black is at his smarmy best as the deceitful but oh-so likable Carl Denham, who hires (or should I say steals) a steamer and heads to a remote corner of the Pacific to make his newest film. Tagging along with Denham are writer Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody), struggling starlet Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) and ship’s Captain Engelhorn (Thomas Kretschmann), as well as a few technicians and the motley crew of Engelhorn’s steamer.

Of course, there’s more than an exotic locale waiting for them at their destination, aka Skull Island: there’s also a village of savage natives and the “God” that protects them, a 25-foot gorilla they call Kong.

Those familiar with 1933’s King Kong know where the story goes from there.

I will certainly concede that many of the film’s action sequences are over-the-top (especially late in the movie, when the story shifts back to New York), as is the “romance” between Watts’ Ann and Kong (though quite touching at times, it’s again a case of “way too much”).

What saves the movie from being little more than an overstuffed remake is the portrayal of Kong himself, a combination of CGI and the performance of Andy Serkis (who was Gollum in the Lord of the Rings series and also plays Lumpy, a member of Engelhorn’s crew in this film). By way of motion capture, Serkis infuses the character with personality to spare, making him terrifying one minute and heartwarming the next (the scenes on Skull Island where Ann is trying to communicate with Kong are the best in the film).

I doubt I’ll return as often to Peter Jackson’s King Kong as I do the 1933 classic (I even prefer the 1976 version to this more modern take), but as hundred million dollar spectacles go (its budget was reported being just north of $200 million), I’ve seen worse.
Rating: 6 out of 10

#2,664. George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey (1984)

 

Written and directed by his son, George Stevens Jr., George Stevens: A Filmmakers Journey is a detailed biography of - and a loving tribute to - one of Hollywood’s most accomplished directors, the mastermind behind such classics as A Place in the Sun, Shane, Giant, and The Diary of Anne Frank.

Cinephiles are sure to get a kick out of the rare, behind-the-scenes color footage taken on the set of 1939’s Gunga Din (photographed by Stevens himself) but it’s the sequences detailing the acclaimed filmmakers’ service in World War II (he filmed the massive landing on D-Day) and his defense of colleagues during the McCarthy era that truly stand out.

But more than anything, George Stevens: A Filmmakers Journey is a time capsule of old Hollywood, featuring interviews with (among others) Katherine Hepburn, Frank Capra, Cary Grant. Joel McCrae, and John Huston, all recounting the glory days of Tinseltown and one of the men that made them so memorable.

If you love movies as much as I do, you’ll adore this documentary!
Rating: 9.5 out of 10

#2,656. Love Express: The Disappearance of Walerian Borowczyk (2018)

 

It was 1978’s Behind Convent Walls that introduced me to the movies of Walerian Borowczyk, and I was instantly hooked. Both The Beast and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne strengthened my respect for the filmmaker, who skillfully blended such time-honored genres as comedy, drama, and romance with pure, unadulterated erotica.

Love Express is a 2018 documentary that delves into the great director’s work, from his early days in animation (shorts that inspired, among others, Terry Gilliam and Neil Jordan, both of whom are interviewed in this movie) to his output in the 1980s, by which point he had been branded a sleaze merchant (he was hired to direct Emmanuelle V, but walked off the set following an argument with an actress).

Borowczyk’s penchant for the erotic would ultimately be his downfall; with The Beast a box-office sensation, producers hounded him to include nudity and sex in every film going forward, while others refused to hire him because of his reputation as a smut peddler. To watch this movie is to see that Walerian Borowczyk was so much more than the cinematic community gave him credit for, and when left to his own vision, was capable of producing greatness.

Featuring clips, behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with those who worked with and admired Barowczyk, Love Express stands as a testament to his abilities as a filmmaker, and a tragic account of a talent that never was permitted to shine as brightly as it could have.
Rating: 9 out of 10

#2,597. Bunuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles (2018)

 

Directed by Salvador Simo and based on a graphic novel by Fermin Solis, Bunuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles relates the true story of how filmmaker Luis Bunuel (voiced by Jorge Uson) shot his 1933 documentary Land Without Bread in the Las Hurdes region of Spain.

Using money that his good friend, sculptor Ramon Acin (Fernando Ramos), won on a lottery ticket, Bunuel hires a crew, buys a new car to transport the equipment, and heads to the mountainous, rustic Las Hurdes to make what he hopes will be a realistic film about the locals and their way of life.

But Bunuel’s domineering personality, as well as his penchant for stirring up drama, soon has everyone wondering if the movie will ever be completed.

Along with being a very unique biopic (there are flashbacks to Bunuel’s childhood) and a snapshot of Spain just prior to the outbreak of civil war, Bunuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles is a fascinating glimpse into the mind of a famous filmmaker, whose brilliance occasionally played second fiddle to his enormous ego (though shooting a documentary, Bunuel had no problem staging scenes to get what he wanted, at one point going so far as to force a goat off the side of a cliff and filming the animal after it plummeted to its death).

Unflinching in its depiction of its main subject’s strengths as well as his weaknesses, Bunuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles is an animated movie that cinephiles will absolutely love!
Rating: 9 out of 10

Capsule Reviews - July 25, 2021

Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989) - A Finnish musical / comedy directed by Aki Kaurismaki, Leningrad Cowboys Go America is a road movie of sorts, centering on a band from a rural district of Siberia whose shifty manager drags them to America , forcing them to play a variety of nightclubs as they travel from New York City to Mexico. It’s a quirky, sometimes darkly funny expose of a less-than-average band that learns to play everything from country to Rock and Roll (depending on the audience), and doing so just well enough to get paid (though it’s quite telling that the band is never invited to perform a second night). Though more amusing than laugh-out-loud funny, Leningrad Cowboys Go America did feature a few moments that made me chuckle (the band’s “traveling companion” is a former member who froze to death in Siberia during an outdoor rehearsal). This movie spawned a series of films, and the band even toured together for a while. Also, keep an eye out for director Jim Jarmusch, who makes a cameo appearance as a used car salesman. Rating: 7.5 out of 10












Man of a Thousand Faces (1957) – James Cagney delivers a fine performance as silent film star Lon Chaney, taking us from the actor’s early vaudeville days and his tumultuous marriage to dancer Clara Creighton (Dorothy Malone) through to his screen career, when his skills with a make-up brush landed him a number of memorable roles (most notably the title characters in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera). There are times when Man of a Thousand Faces crosses into schmaltzy melodrama (especially the scenes involving Chaney’s relationship with his son Creighton, aka Lon Chaney Jr.), but it’s handled well enough, and Cagney’s performance, coupled with a strong supporting cast (Jane Greer is quite good as Chaney’s second wife Hazel, though it’s Malone’s turn as the self-centered Clara that stands out) and some nifty recreations of moments from the actor’s more noteworthy films do their part to make this a worthwhile biopic. Rating: 7.5 out of 10












The Wolf House (2018) – A vibrant, fascinating animated film produced in Chile, The Wolf House introduces us to Maria (voiced by Amalia Kassai), a young girl who escapes from a German religious cult and seeks refuge in an abandoned house. There, she befriends two pigs, which are also hiding out, but neither Maria nor her new pals are safe because a hungry wolf (Rainer Krause) is prowling just outside , ready to make a meal out of them all. A stop-motion movie co-directed by Joaquín Cociña and Cristóbal León, The Wolf House was inspired by actual events; the cult that Maria flees is based on a commune in central Chile, founded in 1961 by former Nazi Paul Scahfer and rumored to have abused some of its younger members. This fact alone brings an added layer of intrigue to The Wolf House, but it’s the animation itself – chock full of imagination and not afraid to take the story in some dark directions – that will keep your eyes glued to the screen (rooms morph, as do several characters, and you’re never quite sure what you’ll find when the action switches from one locale to the next). A truly brilliant piece of work! Don’t miss it! Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Capsule Reviews - July 23, 2021

Host (2020) – Along with its many strengths, director Rob Savage’s Host will also one day serve as the perfect time capsule, showing future audiences what it was like to live through the hell that was the COVID pandemic of 2020; characters are sequestered at home, communicating with each other by way of an online Zoom meeting, and when they go out, they wear face masks. On top of that, Host is also a damn effective horror movie. A group of friends, with the help of a medium (played by Seylan Baxter), holds an online séance and inadvertently summons a malevolent spirit. There are some intensely creepy scenes in Host, and with a running time of just under an hour the movie never loses any of its steam. Host is a supernatural tale for the modern age, and will have you poised on the edge of your seat. Rating: 9 out of 10












Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces (2000) – Produced by Turner Classic Movies, this 2000 documentary focuses on the life and career of silent film star Lon Chaney, whose remarkable skills with a make-up brush earned him the nickname “The Man of a Thousand Faces”. We learn about Chaney’s upbringing, and how his expertise at both pantomime and communicating with his eyes were in part due to his parents (both of whom were deaf mutes). In addition we’re shown the physical extremes that the actor went to for many of his roles (the make-up he devised for his portrayal of the title character in 1925’s The Phantom of the Opera must have been extremely uncomfortable). Directed by Kevin Brownlow and narrated by Kenneth Branagh, Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces features interviews with family members (including archival footage of his famous son, Lon Chaney Jr., recounting stories from his childhood) as well as clips from many of the actor’s most notable films (though known for playing monsters, Chaney’s portrayal of Sgt. O’Hara in 1926’s Tell it to the Marines so impressed the Corps that they made him an honorary Marine). This is a must-see for cinephiles looking to delve into the actor’s filmography (an undertaking I highly recommend). Rating: 9 out of 10












They Nest (2000) – Ordered to take a leave of absence by his hospital’s administrator, recovering alcoholic Dr. Ben Cahill (Thomas Calabro) heads to the crappiest island in Maine, where he recently purchased a vacation home. Soon after his arrival, Cahill discovers that a highly aggressive, carnivorous insect has somehow made its way to this sleepy little inlet, and is multiplying quickly… by laying its eggs inside the locals! Calabro is hit-and-miss as the lead (he’s so goofy at times that we wonder how he ever became a surgeon in the first place), and the first half hour or so of the movie, when Cahill is being tormented by Jack Wald (John Savage), the previous owner of his house, fell flat. Once the bugs take center stage, however, They Nest hits its stride, and there are a handful of gross yet effective sequences throughout (especially when the bugs “burst out” of their human hosts). The supporting cast, including Dean Stockwell as the sheriff and Kirsten Dalton as Cahill’s love interest, is solid, and the finale (by which point the bugs have evolved) is a real nail-biter. Rating: 7 out of 10

Capsule Reviews - July 11, 2021

The Elephant Man (1980)

David Lynch directed this black and white period film inspired by a true story. John Merrick (John Hurt) is a badly deformed man living in Victorian-era England. As the movie opens, Merrick is being exploited as a sideshow freak. A surgeon (Anthony Hopkins) takes pity on him, rescues Merrick from the circus, and introduces him to the world of high society. But did John Merrick simply abandon one manipulative existence for another? The Elephant Man is gritty and disturbing, yet also quite beautiful (Merrick visits the theater at one point, and is changed by the experience). The performances are extraordinary, especially John Hurt’s, who disappears behind layers of makeup, fully embodying this tragic individual. The Elephant Man was produced by Mel Brooks’ Brooksfilms, and it is amazing.
Rating: 9 out of 10









For Sama (2019)

Co-directed by Waad Al-Kateab, who personally shot most of the footage, For Sama centers on a hospital in war-torn Syria. Along with its unflinching look at the day-to-day violence that rocks the country, this documentary was intended as a video diary of sorts, undertaken to show Al-Kateab’s infant daughter, Sama, why she and her husband Hamza (the girl’s father) remained in Syria, putting their entire family in harm’s way. For Sama features plenty of gruesome imagery (we see first-hand the brutality inflicted on the citizens of Aleppo, many of whom are children), but the movie is even more gripping as a personal drama; Al-Kateab, a journalist, and her husband, a doctor, were also members of the resistance that fought for Syria’s independence, meaning they’d be immediately put to death if captured. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary, For Sama is a devastating motion picture; it is really powerful stuff.
Rating: 9 out of 10









Pain And Glory (2019)

Pedro Almodovar is one of those filmmakers whose work always catches me off-guard. It happened in 2002 with Talk to Her and now it’s happened again with Pain and Glory, which in many ways is Almodovar’s most personal film. Antonio Banderas plays an aging director who has lost his muse, but finds himself drawn back into public life, with some startling consequences. This film is beautifully crafted, with excellent performances throughout, and I found myself thinking about it for days. It’s damn near a masterpiece.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Capsule Reviews - July 1, 2021

The Aviator (2004)

A biopic on the life of millionaire Howard Hughes, Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator has a lot going for it, not the least of which is a stellar performance by Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role. It is an amazing portrayal; when DiCaprio is on screen, the electricity flows, and The Aviator certainly benefits from the fact that he is on-screen most of the time. Whether he’s barking out orders to his subordinates, tangling with actress Katherine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett, in an Oscar-winning turn) or going up against the United States Senate, Dicaprio’s Hughes is a force to be reckoned with. Along with his incredible confidence in his own abilities, we see the other Howard Hughes as well; the man so overcome by his fear of germs that they could reduce the mighty tycoon to a quivering mass in an instant. Even here, DiCaprio does not falter, giving us a Hughes trying his best to maintain some dignity as he suffers through his crippling personal horrors. Having worked with the actor a number of times (including Gangs of New York, The Departed, and The Wolf of Wall Street), it’s easy to see why Scorsese once dubbed Leonardo DiCaprio his ‘next DeNiro’; this guy man can flat-out act!
Rating: 9 out of 10









The Boy Who Cried Werewolf (1973)

A 1973 release directed by Nathan Juran (who helmed one of my favorite Ray Harryhausen movies, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad), The Boy Who Cried Werewolf is about a young boy (Scott Sealey) whose father (Kerwin Mathews) is attacked by a werewolf, then slowly transforms into one himself. At times the film has the look and feel of a TV movie, and the father-son relationship is well explored. There’s also a side story about a group of religious hippies in the woods that is both funny and effective (especially when they have their own encounter with the monster). The werewolf make-up isn’t the best, but the story more than makes up for this shortcoming.
Rating: 7 out of 10









Honeyland (2019)

This is a Macedonian documentary about a female beekeeper forced to cope with some new neighbors, who not only try to duplicate the success she’s had but also threaten her very livelihood with their carelessness. Honeyland was shot over the course of three years, during which time filmmakers Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov gathered hundreds of hours of footage. There’s no narration… we the audience are tossed headfirst into this setting, and that stylistic choice goes a long way in pulling us into this world. Honeyland is an extremely engaging motion picture, and was nominated by the Academy for both Best Documentary and Best Foreign Language Film.
Rating: 9 out of 10

#2,533. Capturing Reality (2008)

 

Capturing Reality is a 2008 documentary about… well, documentaries!

Directed by Pepita Ferrari, the movie does feature the occasional clip, but is mostly a “talking heads” style presentation, with such notables as Albert Maysles (Grey Gardens), Werner Herzog (Lessons of Darkness), Errol Morris (Gates of Heaven), Kim Longinotto (The Day I Will Never Forget), Kevin Macdonald (Touching the Void), and Nick Broomfield (Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer) discussing what the documentary form means to them, and debating as to whether or not it’s possible for a film to be fully truthful.

Like many movie-centric documentaries, I came away from Capturing Reality with a list of titles I now want to check out, including Paul Cowan’s The Peacekeepers (about the U.N.’s negotiations to avoid war in the Congo) and Nettie Wild’s A Place Called Chiapas (centering on Mexico’s Zapatista National Liberation Army), and while I was ultimately a little disappointed that Ferrari and company didn’t delve into the history of the genre (a brief section on Robert Flaherty would have been nice), I found Capturing Reality - for what it was - to be both insightful and informative.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10

#2,532. Deadline (1980)

Deadline, a 1980 Canadian horror flick, tells the story of Steven Lessey (Stephen Young), a well-respected screenwriter of the macabre, whose movies feature barbarous violence and lots of gore. His films have brought in tons of money, yet despite his professional success Lessey can’t seem to get a handle on his personal life, which is unraveling before his very eyes.

One of the most engaging aspects of Deadline is its inclusion of random scenes from Lessey’s movies, all depicting mutilations and murders. In one snippet, two children lead their blindfolded grandmother (who is also bound at the wrists) into a bedroom and set her ablaze, though Deadline’s strangest sequence is undoubtedly the cannibalistic “mass”, in which a group of nuns devours a priest in lieu of receiving communion.

Yet what takes Deadline to another level is how it juxtaposes these moments of fictional terror with the actual horrors that have become Lessey’s life. Much to his chagrin, he and his wife Elizabeth (Sharon Masters) have drifted apart. In fact, it’s fairly obvious to everyone (except Lessey) that she has grown to despise him. At one point, Lessey receives an award from the University where he once taught, and during the ceremony he’s verbally attacked by several current students, who object to the violence in his movies. While Lessey is frantically trying to defend himself, a quick shot of Elizabeth’s face shows her grinning from ear to ear, taking extreme pleasure in her husband’s embarrassment. To further complicate their relationship, Elizabeth is also using drugs, and there are hints that she’s having an affair.

Despite his success, Lessey’s professional life is quickly becoming every bit as chaotic as his marriage; he himself isn’t happy with the quality of his movies, but his producer Burt (Marvin Goldhar) pushes him to keep writing horror because “that’s where the money is”. On top of everything else, Lessey ignores his three kids (played by Cindy Hinds, Phillip Leonard, and Tod Woodcroft), chasing them away while he’s writing and screaming at them when they interrupt his thought process. Ultimately, one of Lessey’s most popular films will have a terrible effect on his family, leading to a disaster that could very well shatter his already-fragile psyche.

And it’s here that horror fans may take issue with Deadline, namely it’s assertion that fictional horror has the power to influence real-life (a charge that politicians, religious leaders, and even some critics have leveled against the genre time and again). When all is said and done, Deadline seems to support this theory. In fact, during an interview, the film’s producer, Henry Less, even went so far as to call Deadline an “anti-horror” film.

It’s a tired argument, to be sure, but if genre fans can bring themselves to look past it, they’ll find that Deadline is a well-made, briskly paced, and expertly acted film, with a number of scenes that they won’t soon forget.
Rating: 7 out of 10 (it might piss you off, but give it a chance anyway)

#2,500. Henri Langlois: The Phantom of the Cinémathèque (2004)

Directed By: Jacques Richard

Starring: Henri Alekan, Catherine Allégret, Jo Amorin



Line from this film: "One must save everything and buy everything. Never assume you know what's of value"

Trivia: Was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2004 Chicago International Film Festival







When I started my 2,500 movie journey back in August of 2010, one of the things that excited me most about it was the possibility of uncovering some cinematic gems, films I might otherwise have never seen that could be among the greatest ever made. And because I enjoy such a wide variety of genres (and had no idea from which direction a hidden treasure would hit me), I felt the best way to approach this challenge was to keep the selection process as random as possible. 

I spent many a day over the past seven plus years staring at my DVD collection, waiting for one particular title to grab my attention. On rare occasions, I’d put together a schedule, or select a movie that fit into a current holiday season, especially in October (for Halloween) and December (for Christmas), but more often than not I woke up in the morning with no idea what film I’d be writing about in the afternoon. 

From the very beginning, though, I knew which movie would be the last - aka #2,500: Henri Langlois: The Phantom of the Cinémathèque. 

The reason is simple: it’s the film that inspired me to undertake this challenge in the first place! 

Directed by Jacques Richard, The Phantom of the Cinémathèque is a 2004 documentary on the life and times of Henri Langlois, arguably the greatest cinephile who ever lived. For decades Langlois ran the Paris Cinémathèque, and his love of movies inspired the members of the French New Wave (Francois Truffaut, Jean-Lug Godard, etc), all of whom would huddle together in the dark, drinking in the films that Langlois showed on a daily basis. 

In addition, Henri Langlois was one of the world’s foremost film archivists; by some estimates, he amassed a collection of 50,000 movies, and is credited with saving such highly-regarded classics as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Blue Angel, and a slew of others, which, without his penchant for preserving the cinema’s rich history, might have been lost forever. 

Unfortunately, because his inventory was so massive, there were those (including the government-run film commission, which funded the Cinémathèque) who felt Langlois lacked organization, and let things get too far out of his control (his refusal to copy highly flammable nitrate prints onto newer film stock didn’t endear him to the officials, either). So, in 1968, Langlois was removed from his position with the Francais Cinémathèque, an organization he himself co-founded (along with Georges Franju and Jean Mitry) in 1936. 

His ouster sent shock waves throughout the cinematic community, and sparked a revolution. Led by Truffaut, Godard, and a handful of others, daily protests (attended by hundreds of students and young film fans) were staged in front of the Cinémathèque, a few of which turned violent (police tried on several occasions to disperse the crowd, and at one point a policeman even clubbed Jean-Luc Godard). Support poured in from all over the world, with prominent filmmakers threatening to pull their movies from the Cinémathèque’s library if Langlois wasn’t immediately reinstated. 

With the pressure mounting, Langlois was allowed to return to his position with the Cinémathèque, but all government funding was cut off. 

Still, even without the subsidies, Langlois continued “rescuing” as many films as he could, the cost of which forced him to spend the final years of his life in abject poverty. He died of a heart attack in January of 1977 – aged 62 - but not before receiving an Honorary Oscar from the Academy in 1974, for "his devotion to the art of film, his massive contributions in preserving its past and his unswerving faith in its future". 

Henri Langlois: The Phantom of the Cinémathèque paints as complete a picture as possible of its main subject, starting from the early days of the Cinémathèque (Langlois personally hid hundreds of movies during the Nazi Occupation) through to his tumultuous final years. Utilizing stills, archive footage (of Langlois himself, at work or just chatting about movies) and interviews with those who knew the man, director Richard gives us a sense of why some believe Henri Langlois was the ultimate cinephile. 

It is an engrossing documentary about an extraordinary man, but there was one specific element of Henri Langlous: The Phantom of the Cinémathèque that inspired my 2,500 Challenge: his approach to the movies he amassed over the years. Henri Langlois felt that every film, whether a classic or an obscure title, deserved to be seen. And during his run as head of the Cinémathèque, he played as many of them as he could, regardless of where the print was from or what condition it was in. “We saw tons of Italian films with no subtitles”, said Max Tessier, a filmmaker and historian who frequented the Cinémathèque during its heyday. “There were Japanese films subtitled in Russian, and Buster Keaton with title cards in Czech”. 

I'm sure this proved frustrating at times (patrons were often forced to decipher the story based on the images alone), but Langlois truly believed each and every motion picture he showcased sharpened his audience’s movie-watching skills. And because he rarely showed a movie more than once, people crowded into the Cinémathèque on a regular basis out of fear they might miss something special. 

Langlois’s philosophy struck a chord with me when I first saw this documentary in July of 2010. Like him, I had a DVD collection that was out of control, and featured many I had never seen (hell, I hadn’t even removed the shrink wrap from dozens of them). “Why not go on a cinematic journey of discovery”, I thought, “and in the process sharpen my own movie-watching skills?” And thus, DVD Infatuation was born. 

So, what now? What will I do without this challenge hanging over my head? It’s a question I’ve been asked many times the past few months. 

For starters, the reviews will continue. I do intend to take the next 12 months off, but starting in May of 2019 I will post five to six reviews a month, with two exceptions: 

1. Every October, I’ll continue the 31 Days of Horror I started in 2015 and post a new horror review every single day 

2. Every December, I’ll take a mini-vacation and post nothing at all. 

And what have I learned over the past 7+ years? Well, one of the key revelations was that a number as seemingly large as 2,500 doesn’t scratch the surface of what’s out there for the taking. Even a 5,000 Challenge - or 10,000 – wouldn’t have exposed me to all the cinema has to offer. There are so many films, so many subgenres, and so many countries turning out pictures on a yearly basis that it’s more than any cinephile can digest in a lifetime. For example, India has flooded the market with thousands of Bollywood movies over the decades. During this challenge, I reviewed exactly one: 2007’s Saawariya. 

This, of course, raises an interesting question: How many Bollywood films would’ve been enough? Say I watched 250 of Bollywood’s finest movies. That would have constituted a large percentage of my challenge’s overall total (10%, to be exact), but been a drop in the bucket as to what that particular industry, the largest in the world, had to offer. In a 2014 article for Forbes magazine, Niall McCarthy wrote that in 2012 alone, Bollywood released 1,602 pictures. Sure, 250 might have given me a taste of what’s out there, but I still wouldn’t have dared call myself an expert on Indian cinema. 

Bollywood wasn’t my only oversight. In fact, some of my omissions hit me like a punch to the gut. I skipped Dario Argento’s classic Giallo flicks; turned my back on the entirety of Stallone’s Rocky series; and completely ignored the Dirty Harry franchise. And I love all (or at least most) of those damn movies! Bottom line: 2,500 simply isn’t enough. 

That said, I wouldn’t have changed a thing. While a daily movie binge stretched out over almost 8 years may seem like a tremendous undertaking to some, I recommend the experience wholeheartedly. If I can watch and review 2,500 films in 8 years, anyone can, and the various cinematic nooks and crannies that I’ve explored since that first day in August of 2010 have paid off in a big way. 

Finally, on a personal note, let me say that I greatly appreciate the support and encouragement I’ve received from so many of you over the years (far too many to list here). Along with being a cinematic discovery, this endeavor has introduced me to so many wonderful people, helping me forge friendships that I hope will last the rest of my life. 

Thank you so much for joining me on this little journey, and to quote the late Roger Ebert, I’ll see you at the movies!

#2,497. Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016) - Documentaries About Film

Directed By: Bill Morrison

Starring: Kathy Jones-Gates, Michael Gates, Sam Kula




Tag line: "Film Was Born of an Explosive"

Trivia: The film contains rare footage of the 1919 World Series - known for the "Black Sox" betting scandal







It is estimated that 75% of all silent films, most printed on highly flammable nitrate stock, have been lost. 

We learn this little factoid early on in writer / director Bill Morrison’s 2016 documentary Dawson City: Frozen Time, which makes everything that follows it all the more incredible. 

Founded in 1897, Dawson City - a tiny metropolis situated in Canada’s Yukon Territory - saw its population explode during the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 19th century (at its height, 40,000 people called Dawson City their home). As a result, the town grew very quickly, with saloons, gambling houses, brothels and even a few theaters popping up. 

In the first decades of the 20th century, moving pictures were all the rage, and several venues in Dawson City exhibited them on a regular basis. Because the town was so far north, it sometimes took two or three years for Hollywood’s newest releases to reach it. In many cases, the residents of this Yukon community were the last to receive the prints, and since they were, by that point, considered “outdated”, the studios and distributors didn’t want to pay for their return. 

So once they finished their run, the film reels were crated up and stored in the basement of a burned-out library. 

Within 10 years or so, this basement was filled to capacity, and a bank manager (whose facility was hired by the distributors to ensure the movies didn’t play past their rental period) again asked the powers-that-be in Hollywood if they wanted their films back. 

They didn’t. 

But instead of destroying the reels (as the studios instructed him to do), the banker donated the crates to a local hockey team, which used them as landfill for the construction of a new ice rink. 

The building that surrounded the rink eventually burned to the ground, and the crates stayed buried under the ice until 1970, when an excavation crew finally uncovered them. 

It proved to be quite a find: over 500 reels of nitrate films dating as far back as the mid 1910’s. These reels were shipped off to a historical society, which cataloged each one. Some of the movies they found were believed lost forever. 

The telling of this story is - in and of itself - enough to make Dawson City: Frozen Time a worthwhile documentary, but it’s how director Morrison approaches the material that lifts this remarkable film to a whole new level. 

Instead of relying on narration and talking heads, Morrison lets the recovered movies speak for themselves, relating the history of Dawson City itself (recounted in great detail via newsreels and appropriate excerpts from dramatic films) as well as other historic events, like the 1914 Colorado miner’s strike; the end of World War I;, and the infamous 1919 World Series (see John Sayles’ Eight Men Out for more on this).  

Footage for all of this, and more besides, was rescued from the Dawson City site. 

By dedicating so much time to the movies themselves, Dawson City: Frozen Time does more than relate the tale of an extraordinary cinematic discovery; it demonstrates what we gained, and what might have been lost had the reels remained buried forever. 

Dawson City: Frozen Time is a documentary movie buffs and historians alike will applaud. The cache in Dawson City was a truly amazing find, and its story made for an equally amazing motion picture.