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me-1744
Reviews
Welcome Danger (1929)
Difference in pacing
Just saw the film last night on TCM (the sound version).
Very interesting to note the difference in pacing for silent gags and sound.
Most of the gags were only funny with the sound off. This is essentially a silent film with sound and dialog clumsily grafted on.
Also, I must agree that the lovable boy-next-door character audiences had come to expect shows up as a bully and low-life due, primarily, to his abusive and rough comments.
Contrasting, TCM also screened Buster's first sound offering - "free and easy". Clearly MGM and Buster had mastered the uses of sound - and how to pace a sound comedy. This film, unlike Harold's, was meant to be a talkie. (on the other hand, in a number of scenes, Buster appears a little drunk).
I look forward to seeing the silent version of this film.
Gone with the Wind (1939)
Gone with the Wind - Thank Goodness!
While there are many, many laudable features in this film, and it certainly deserves a place in cinematic history, so do two other classic but racist films: "Birth of a Nation" and "Triumph of the Will".
While it's in many ways the template of a well-told romantic epic, it's also a glorification of the Antebellum South - with every iota of the racism therein.
Rhett Butler makes reference to the "simple-minded 'darkies'", Scarlet slaps "Prissy" - of course at one point or another, Scarlet slaps everyone.
In short Black folks are portrayed as simple, cowardly and practically deserving of slavery.
I've always found this film unbearable to watch.